Mass Effect: Dimensional Rift
by Bundlejumper
Summary: Crossing Dimensions is painful, at least when you decide to fall head first into one. Follow my adventure through the Warframe Dimension where i manage to get a Warframe and then into the world of Mass Effect. Will Cover Mass Effect 1, this is a Self Insert story. Expect a little OoC here and there. Rated M for Safety. Cover by RedSkittlez-DA at Deviantart
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome back. So this is the rewritten version of Mass Effect: The Warframe, which is kept up for historical purposes. I hope you will enjoy this rewrite, do note that chapter 1 hasn't been rewritten since I actually changed it a month or so ago.**

**My point of view. (This will later change to "Marc's point of view", once the character that represents me, moves so far away from my physique and mental state, that we become two different people)**

"GET OUT, GET OUT, GET THE FUCK OUT!"

"SLAM" That was the sound of a door closing. Whom the door belongs to? Well I suppose it is now ex-girlfriend, but that is not really of importance. My name is Marc and my last name I think you can do fine without, I am just a normal guy I am not really special in any way I look normal although a bit on the heavy side, I am pretty tall going on 198 cm last time I checked and since I am in my twenties or well **twenty **I am not really going to be growing a hell of a lot taller. The girl whom just threw me out was Maria, she was my girlfriend for a little while but as you just heard that ended very loudly, what did I do? Well truth be told I am not really sure, our relationship has been deteriorating over the past few months so when I arrived here earlier today she was already pissed, following me saying hello it all went south fast. She started going on about me cheating on her with some green haired chick, I assume she was talking about Clara my cousin whom I have a habit of hanging around with a lot, she is the only one from my family who understands my slight addiction to games.

All of that doesn't really matter, I am just going to head home and forget today happened at all. I walked down the cold streets, it is December but surprisingly there has been no snow this year, guess all the snow is just hiding until February that way it can go ahead and ruin spring for us instead. A few streets from my home I could have sworn that I saw the entire world flicker, and I mean not just flicker like I got dizzy, flicker like I could have sworn I saw the world change in front of my eyes, be it only for a second I could have sworn it looked like I was inside a giant metal warehouse or something.

I kept walking home hoping that I was merely stressed or had a headache or something. But as fate or god or whatever universal trickster decided to mess with me it was not so, as I got closer to my home the flickers became more and more frequent. When I was standing in front of my front door it got really bad, I could smell the place now it smelled foul, artificial and the stench was really heavy I got to tell you. I opened the front door hoping I was just getting really sick or something like that, but alas again it was not so. As I opened my front door and stepped through I tripped over something, it wasn't the door step it felt way more solid, like I banged my foot against raw metal, that is about all I remember before striking my head against the metal floor and blacking out.

Somewhere in the dark I heard a faint voice, I couldn't tell you if it was male or female but the words I understood, the surprise in the voice was equally evident when it spoke the word "impossible" it's about all I caught while I passed through the dark.

When I finally came back to the world of the conscious I had a severe headache, I felt like someone had taken my head and decided to play football with it for a good hour or two. The first few breaths I took gave me a horrible taste it felt synthetic as all hell, like it was completely unnatural and not even intended for me to breath it, my vision still seemed foggy but I could make out some basic shapes like walls and pillars, the silence however was the worst of it. It was completely silent; no sound seemed to pass through this place wherever it was.

After a few minutes of sitting completely still, waiting to see if something would happen I forced myself to stand up and take a proper look at my surroundings the corridor I was in had three doors visible, two to the left and right of me and one directly in front of me. I walked very slowly towards the one in front of me, feeling my way forwards inside this corridor it was quite dark so I had to strain my eyes to get some semblance of vision. When I stepped through the door what I faced I was not ready to face, space, outer space, nothing but raw darkness outside a few windows, my legs were shacking the entire way up to the windows as I pressed my hands against them it finally clicked inside my head, I have never had a panic attack before but I think this qualifies, I started sweating wildly, my breathing was increasing with every second that passed and my entire body started shaking, I collapsed to the floor and felt a semblance of dread approaching when darkness consumed my vision once more.

What eventually brought me back around to the land of the living were a few voices, they sounded human but with a robotic twist to them. My eyes felt heavy as hell so I didn't bother trying to pry them open I was just listening to these voices, whatever they were saying I couldn't understand it, the language sounded jumbled and broken but one word cut through, that one word send my mind into overdrive threatening to start another panic attack was the simple word "Tenno"

My mind was racing, Tenno was the name for the Space Ninja Badasses from Warframe, but that couldn't be right, my mind refused to accept that they were really using that word, because if they were then their odd voices as well as half robotic sounds would make so much more sense. Just one single piece of information would put this all into place, all I had to do was open my eyes and I would know but fear is one hell of a deterrent, not until the voices grew angry did my eyes listen to my brain.

But when my eyes opened I immediately wished they hadn't, I was propped up against the wall and overlooking me was three huge men, and one smaller female in armour I knew all too well, they were Grineer troops. I felt my mind collapse in on itself trying to compute what my eyes were relaying to it, but I had to accept what my eyes were showing me and my ears were telling me, these guys were Grineer, two of them had their faces showing and they looked exactly alike except for a select few scars sitting on one of them, they were bickering back and forth while a third one was standing the back his armour made him even more recognizable than the others, the helmet he was wearing was long and pointed and identified him as a Tenno Commander, I recognized the fourth one as one of the female Grineer, those that have robotic legs and like to try and slash people with their blades.

The first two Grineer kept pointing between each other and myself while shouting something that sounded akin to gibberish to me, but the word Tenno was mostly used when they pointed at me, eventually the Commander stepped forward and pointed at me and with a very calm voice (if Grineer have a calm voice) addressed his subordinates.

"No'thre kara ze thum va Tenno"

This however just seemed to irk one of the two Grineer, while the other one smiled a little and nodded, the first Grineer just pointed a finger at me and yelled

"Ze thum ba Tenno, tarik ka skoro!"

This was apparently the last straw for the Commander, because he promptly brought back his fist and smashed his subordinates face in, the downed Grineer landed next to me and my eyes shot wide open as his own cold eyes stared back into mine, he got up instantly and pointed at me yelling something that I can only assume meant "he is awake!" or something equally to that point, because the Commander knelt down next to me and looked me in the eyes, he then simply lifted his hand and made a gesture towards the open door a little down the hallway, I stared back in his eyes and had no idea what he was planning, but from what I could tell he was giving me the chance to run, when I looked behind him the female Grineer had a sick smile on her face, her grapple line already in her hands, the Commander snapped his fingers in front of my face and pointed down the hallway once more, this time he notched his head in that direction as well.

I don't know if it was my fight or flight instinct, but something made me jump and run, I sped down the hallways as fast as I could, hoping that I could make a turn somewhere and hide in one of the many ducts that usually are to find inside the Grineer ships. As I was about to turn at the first chance I had, I felt sick to my stomach and a sudden pull in my entire body like a giant wave had crashed into me, a blink was all it took before I found myself standing between the two Grineer from before and they instantly grabbed hold of my arms and held me in place, the female Grineer just crackled like mad while the Grineer Commander walked back towards us, he had swapped places with me, using that strange switch ability they share with the Loki Warframe.

I didn't feel like fighting them, I didn't even struggle against their hold, I just assumed I was already dead, I mean who wouldn't in this situation? I am being held by two Grineer whom are abnormally much stronger than me, and next to them is a Grineer female who would take her first chance to impale me with that grapple hook of hers. As the Grineer Commander approached I felt my fate being sealed by each step he took, I probably have a one way ticket to the nearest Grineer research institute, where I without a doubt will make quite the fascinating cadaver to research, if they don't torture me a little first that is.

I turned my head when the Commander started speaking, looking out the windows to the great dark of space, it is really beautiful. Despite my current situation when I was ten years old I dreamed of going to outer space and visit new planets, I guess that is one childhood dream fulfilled before I die. I saw a small ship starting its approach towards a nearby docking station; it was aiming for the hallway I had just tried escaping through, so it seems if I had managed to make the turn I would have run into a dead end, or an airlock. _'Strange, I don't seem to remember the Grineer using such small ships, the shape is also a little funny' _When the ship got close enough I saw it clearly as day, it wasn't a Grineer ship, that there was a Tenno boarding vessel. I wasn't sure whatever to cry in happiness or shrink in fear even further, I have no idea on how a Tenno is going to react to me, and he or she might just kill me outright.

Time felt like it was crawling as the ship docked and I hear the sound from down the hall announcing to us close enough that a ship had docked. When I caught sight of the Warframe that walked into the hall I almost couldn't believe my eyes, down there a good twenty or so metres from me stood a Rhino Warframe, a real Warframe.

I tried making a sound but I couldn't, fear had too tight a grip on my throat right now for me to make any sound at all. The two Grineer holding me did, on the other hand notice the Rhino and they were quick to shout in unison

"TENNO!"

Aside from making the Grineer Commander stop talking and turning around, it also successfully alerted the Rhino user to our presence, the reaction was instant and fast. The Rhino must have used its charge ability because one moment he was over there, and the next he was directly in front of the Grineer Commander gun in hand and aiming directly at the skull of the Grineer, just as the two Grineer holding me released my arms, the Rhino pressed the trigger and blew the brains out of the Grineer Commanders head, and every bit of brain tissue and broken armour scraps covered me from head to somewhere on my stomach I guess, that was about all I noticed before I felt sick to the core and passed out. I don't deal so well brain getting splattered all over me.

**Third Person Point of View**

As the human slumped down from passing out the Rhino user swung his Vasto pistol to the side and smashed his hand into the chest of the female Grineer trooper referred to as "Scorpion" by the Tenno, as the Grineer flew back and struck the wall the two other Grineer troopers fired at the Tenno, it did nothing due to the Iron Skin that was currently coating the Rhino Warframe, the Tenno simply swung his hand back up and blew a hole in the first Grineer's head, he then turned and shot the last Grineer in the chest two times, one to break the armour, and one to pierce and shatter the heart. Reloading and putting his Vasto back in the holster the Grineer walked over to the Scorpion that was slumped down by the wall, her robotic legs had broken when she hit the wall, so she couldn't get back up, the Tenno simply removed one of his Ether Daggers from his back and smashed it through the Grineer's throat killing her instantly.

Walking over to the passed out body of meat that was clearly not Grineer the Tenno inspected the body for a while, determining that he was still alive, however the Tenno didn't recognize the creature, it looked like a mix of Tenno and Grineer, which was completely absurd to the Tenno as that would be completely impossible. The Tenno took a picture of the creature and ran it through the Codex database for any details on it, when the results came back the Tenno was stunned speechless, the creature in front of him had a 80% match to the humans whom the Tenno are descendants off.

If this creature truly was human, then he had to take it with him back to the Tenno main base, it was a unique opportunity to learn something new about his race, as well as perhaps something about their past. Grabbing the young supposed human, the Tenno took him back to his shuttle and strapped him in, so even if he awoke then he wouldn't be able to move, he then returned to his original mission of exterminating all life on this ship, and then blow it up.

As the Tenno returned to his ship he engaged the auto pilot and ordered it to return to the Tenno HQ, as the ship set off into space making its way home, the Tenno contacted HQ to inform them of his new cargo.

"This is Rhino-204 'Arck' calling Tenno HQ"

The reply was immediate

"_This is Tenno HQ, what is the matter Arck?"_

"The mission was successful; all the Grineer aboard the ship has been eliminated and the ship destroyed"

"_Roger that Arck, but that hardly seems to be a reason to call HQ"_

"That is not why I am calling, I picked up something… someone on the ship, HQ, the codex identified him as a human"

Silence was all the Tenno known as Arck heard for a long while.

"HQ? Hello, HQ?"

"_Are you sure that it is a Human you have with you back Arck?"_

"Positive HQ, the codex identified him with an 80% match. Though he seems to be weak or in bad shape, I suggest you have a medical team at the ready when I arrive."

"_Roger that Arck, a full medical and containment team will be at the landing zone. I will inform the Lotus, she will most likely meet you at the landing Zone as well" _

"Roger HQ, eta is in three hours."

"Understood Arck, HQ out"

As the channel died the Tenno Arck turned around and stared at the creature that was supposedly human, eventually he whispered silently to himself

"What in the world where you doing on that ship, and more so, where did you come from?"

When Arck docked at Tenno HQ, he grabbed the human and exited his ship, upon exit he was immediately swarmed by both medical personal and containment personal, Arck handed the human to the medical personal, and then had a short talk with the containment personal regarding if he had "handled" the human without his Warframe on, and what disease could have followed in case he had, the conversation was cut short with the arrival of the Lotus, every Tenno that was present and was not engaged in handling the human bowed in respect of their leader.

As the Lotus approached Arck he stood tall and removed his helmet, smiling down at his leader he then knelt in front of her

"Rhino-204 'Arck' reporting back from mission"

The Lotus smiled at Arck, he was always very mindful of honour and duty.

"Stand Arck, you of all Tenno need not bow before me, you know that. I must say however I am quite surprised, you rarely return from missions with anything much less living things"

The tone was calm, respectful and a little humorous as the Lotus "scolded" Arck for showing the proper etiquette when you stood in front of the leader of the Tenno. Arck stood tall once more, and he nodded at his Leader, this was the reason she was so loved among the Tenno, she treated everyone as equals and only ever took a harsh persona when she needed to.

"I saw no other option Lotus, if the codex is telling the truth and he really is a human, then we have a unique chance here to learn more about ourselves and our past"

The Lotus eyed Arck for a short while, and then spoke in a very calming tone

"As usual your choices are based in logic and reason, but I thank you none the less for bringing him, it is truly a unique chance for us, as you said we might finally learn more about our past, but we might also learn something about the humans, as you know most of our records we have on them are inconclusive at best"

Arck bowed his head and watched as the Lotus went over to speak with the medical personal handling the human. Arck started to make his way back towards his living quarters, but as he walked there he couldn't help one thought that kept jumping to the front of his mind _'This human is going to be the start of a strange time for us'_

**A/N: First chapter done, though we are staying inside the Warframe universe for one more chapter.**

**Ps: I write when I get the itch for it, which is usually late at night, I will try to do weekly updates, but I promise nothing! And for all you know I might update once a day for a week. As you all know.**

**PPS: This is the rewritten version of Chapter 1, as I disliked the way the first chapter had turned out; I do hope this new version is better.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter 2 of the Rewritten series. The latter half of this chapter have undergone revision. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or the Warframe franchises.**

**Third Person Point of View**

Arck walked around the main base for a good while, he couldn't decide what to do, he was simply to curious about the supposed "human" he had brought back with him. But he knew that he couldn't get to see or talk to the human for a while, since the science department, will keep a tight hold on him for as long as they can.

Eventually making his way to the living quarters Arck decided he might as well get some sleep for a change. The remaining walk to Arck's living quarters he heard all sorts of whispers, everyone was already talking about the "human", some good things were heard and some bad. Arck actually heard someone say they thought the human would wipe them out, Arck had to stifle a laugh at this, that human? Kill them? Now that was a joke and half, that human didn't look able to kill anything, much less even fight.

Arck opened the door to his quarters, upon entering he swung around grabbed a solid, yet invisible object from right behind him and crashed it against the wall, slowly a Loki Warframe stepped out of Cloak and a borderline insane voice (Think Joker style) spoke

"Ohh come on Arck, can't a guy just follow his favorite walking Tank around anymore?"

Arck grunted beneath his helmet and applied more strength to the neck of the Warframe, this got the reaction he was looking for, and the Loki frame started giving in at the throat. The Loki instantly started squirming and flailing with his arms, trying to get out of the iron hold Arck held him in. Eventually Arck released the Loki and with a venom clear in his voice said

"Get out Locar; I have no time for your games"

The Loki user took of his helm, and a severe grin was visible at his face (Again, think Joker), he opened his mouth to speak, but one loud crash and a broken wall made him shut up, and leave Arck alone to his thoughts.

Finally alone Arck disabled his Warframe and stepped out of it, now Tenno do not look so different from a Human, only taller, and more pale, nearly white as a sheet. Arck himself was one of the tallest Tenno you would ever meet, standing a massive 356 cm tall, Arck never had to look up in his life, and the only other Tenno that exceed Arck in height would be his late father. Arck also sported short brown hair and a pair of deep pale blue eyes. He was also considered one of the best looking Tenno currently around, this led him to be quite the wanted child partner.

Planting the Warframe on its holding platform, Arck immediately flopped down on his bed and went to sleep; hoping that when he awoke the Lotus would know more about the strange "human".

**My point of view**

I could hear voices, many of them; they kept going back and forth like the first time I woke up. My entire body was in pain, my stomach felt hollow and my mouth tasted like a public toilet. Slowly I remembered what had happened, I am in the Warframe universe, I was close to getting killed, and I was saved by a Rhino Warframe, this is surreal to say the least.

Slowly I open my eyes and I am met by a dimmed light and a few shadows moving outside of my vision, it seems I am not fully awake yet, so my vision is quite blurry. I sit up in what is a surprisingly comfortable bed, and I start rubbing my eyes, hoping to get my full vision back.  
I keep hearing these voices, one is distinctly female, very formal sounding, but the others are speaking rushed, almost frantic, I do not like how this is looking so far, even if I am in a Tenno compound I have no idea how to communicate with these people, ehh Tenno, ehh aliens? Can I even call them people? Or do they prefer Tenno?

My thoughts are cut short when I notice my vision is finally not blurred anymore, I start slowly looking around, taking in everything I am seeing, my eyes stop when they reach the first living thing I see, and my thought process simply stops, I don't know if it's because it's my first time looking at a Tenno outside their Warframes, or perhaps it's because this being is the single most beautiful person I have ever laid my eyes on, but whatever the cause I keep starting at this beautiful creation, she or at least I am assuming "she" since I can see a clear set of breasts, and no those were not the first thing I noticed, or maybe they were I don't know. But she was so perfect, a tall slender body, long flowing silver hair which only seemed to flow perfectly together with her pearl white skin, when she looked in my direction I saw her eyes, they had golden irises, the way she stared at me was properly because I was awake, but when she stared at me I didn't feel disgust or hatred in her glance, only curiosity.

I snapped out of my trance when she took a step towards me, while at the same time speaking to the group of people in the room that was still debating, I looked over to the group she was talking to, and there I saw them, about six Tenno just standing there staring at me, but that was not what made my blood freeze in my veins, no that was the sight of the Lotus.

When I was playing Warframe back home, all I ever saw of the Lotus was her head, and that weird head piece she always wore, but in reality, actually staring at her? She is scary, her body is very much like the other Tenno, but her skin still has something that resembles color, but what is scary about her? The aura she gives off when she looks at you, an aura that commands complete respect and obedience, it was horrifying the way she was staring at me, like I was something that could easily be discarded and forgotten in a single motion. The scary feeling disappeared as soon as she spoke, I didn't understand anything she said, but her voice was way more soothing then it was in game, I mean it sounded like a mother speaking to a sad child, trying to cheer him or her up, it made me smile without thinking about it, and I spoke again without really thinking.

"Sorry Lotus, but I don't understand a damn thing you are trying to say"

I kept smiling as I spoke, and despite her properly not understanding anything I just said, she seemed to get the message. She turned towards one of the Tenno and pointed into a room, the Tenno immediately went into the other room. I sat in silence, trying to guess what the Lotus asked that Tenno to get, but I also found myself staring at the beautiful Tenno I was looking at two minutes ago, she really was beautiful, never mind the fact that her and I properly have zero in common, and even less to talk about, but still I wanted to at least get her name somehow. Just as I opened my mouth to speak again the Tenno returned from the other Room, he has this device, which to me looked like a regular wrist watch, but I'll bet about a million euro that it isn't. True to my belief the Lotus grabbed the device and approached me, she held out her hand indicating that she would like me to put my hand in hers, I did as she wanted and placed my hand in hers, it was warm, like really warm, guess Tenno have a higher core temperature then humans do.

The Lotus put the device on my wrist and pressed something on the top. I looked at the device, wondering what it did, since nothing had happened for a good thirty seconds since she put it on my wrist, but then it happened, a spike or something from the underside of the device bore into my wrist, and believe me, having something that feels like a small drill go into your wrist, is not pleasant in fact, it hurts like hell. But as soon as the pain came it went again, and I just looked at the Lotus with a mixed expression, a bit of confusion and a bit of anger, I mean she did just put something on my wrist that decided to drill into my wrist. The Lotus must have caught my look and smiled, she then waited for a little while before speaking.

"Hello young one, I am called the lotus, do you understand me?"

My mouth dropped, not just did I understand her, but it came out in clear English, her mouth even made the movements for the words, safe to say I was more than a bit confused, but I answered none the less.

"Yeah, I understand you, my name is Marc"

The lotus smiled once again, this time it was a bit wider and warmer, I actually smiled again because of that, the woman is infectious with that smile I tell you. She spoke in a soft tone again.

"That is good, the nanites are doing their job then, now we are going to run some medical tests on you if that is okay with you? But first answer this question, are you human?"

I looked a little confused by the question at first, until I realized what she was fishing after; she wants to know if I am from the same time as the Orokin humans, how the hell am I going to swing this? I mean I am not really from there, I only know of that era, and that is from the Dark Sector game, hmm perhaps that is my way, just pretend to be from the same time as Hayden Tenno, lets first see if they even know his name anymore.

"I am human yes, but if you want to know if I am from the same time as the Orokin, then no, I came from about the same time as Hayden Tenno"

The reaction was immediate and a hell of a lot more than I expected, the Lotus took steps backwards, the other Tenno in the room looked even paler, some of them looked downright scared. I know that Hayden was the first of the Tenno, but what the hell are they scared of? That I carry the Technocyte Virus? Do they even know what that is any longer? The Lotus was the first to speak up.

"Hayden Tenno… the first… you are from his time? But that would make you several thousand years old"

I stared at her, wondering how the hell I was going to explain this, I mean I can't really say that I just kind of faced into this world now can I? I guess a half-truth would work best here.

"True, but I am however only twenty years old, I passed out in my own time and when I awoke I found myself aboard the Grineer ship, from which I was saved by that Rhino Warframe"

That is partially true, but it also reminded me of something else, I spoke again before anyone had a chance to comment on what is said.

"By the way, where is the Tenno that saved me? I would like to thank him in person if it's possible?"

My question seemed to get registered but not considered, I guess they are still a bit surprised about the fact I am from the time of Hayden Tenno. But that is to be expected isn't it? I mean you get faced with someone claiming to be from the same time as your origin, which must be quite the load to process. One of the Tenno in the back seemed to have a moment of clarity, and spoke up

"B-but if you are from the same time as Hayden Tenno, then how do you know of the Orokin?"

That caught me off guard, mostly because I thought the mere idea of me being from the same time as Hayden would shock them to forget the whole Orokin idea, fat lot of good that did me. I got to stop counting on my shitty luck, I really need to think this one over, and perhaps the truth really is the best call? Or another half-truth… half-truth it is!

"Because Hayden already started uniting the human race, he claimed this would be a golden age, the age of the Orokin, that is how I know the Orokin, I simply assumed the rest since you all carry his name "Tenno", I just kind of guessed you were connected"

Ohh please let that one little lie work, pretty please!

"I see my apologies I did not think my question through"

Yes! Score one for the shitty luck, and nine years of elementary school were I lied through my teeth to survive; I calmed my nerves and answered.

"No problem, I would be a little tense as well if I was faced with someone like myself, I mean if I met someone from the same time as my ancestors? Whew that would be quite the thing to wrap my mind around"

The Tenno seemed to accept that and went back to thinking it seems. The Lotus was the next one to speak up.

"This is really something, I have so many questions I would like to ask, but first things first, let's ensure that you are healthy and didn't suffer any damage while onboard the Grineer ship. And as for your request to meet with the Tenno who saved you, his name is Arck and I will ask of him to see you when your tests are done"

I nodded and gave a small thank you. The Lotus then turned and left together with four of the other Tenno, the remaining three Tenno must be the ones to do the tests. One of them seemed to have read my mind and spoke up.

"Yes well, first of all; Greetings, my name is Alcor, I am the head of the medical department, and will be in charge of your health checkup, the two other Tenno here are Crawa, he is our head surgeon, and then there is Sivra, whom is the leader of the nurse staff"

My thoughts cut off when he spoke the last name, "Sivra" that was the name of the beautiful Tenno whom I have been starting at whenever I got the chance, I registered that both Sivra and Crawa bowed as a greeting, I merely did the same and then replied to Alcor.

"Thank you, you can call me Marc, and I should warn you, for a human I am in pretty bad physical shape."

Alcor seemed to accept this and went into the next room to get his tools, he returned and the tests began, Alcor explained to me that he would take a blood and tissue sample, followed by me getting a full body scan. I merely accepted and followed instructions, it didn't take all that long for it all to get done, two hours and I was left in a medical room, I was informed that I should wait here, and that the Lotus and the Tenno who saved me would arrive soon. I am actually nervous about this, I mean it's a one on one with both the Lotus and the Tenno who saved me, and I believe Lotus called him Arck, is that it? Yeah Arck sounds about right.

I waited for ten minutes and then the door opened to reveal the Lotus beautiful form, and behind her I saw yet another stranger, Tenno that much was clear, same pale skin, but blue eyes and brown short hair, he looked quite good actually. The Lotus gave me a nod and introduced us.

"Marc, I would like to introduce you to Arck, the Tenno who saved you from the Grineer ship."

Arck walked over to me and put his hand forward along with a few words

"Good to see you awake and up, I do apologies for the whole brain splatter thing"

I cringed at the memory, yeah getting brain all over you, followed by blacking out as well as unconscious vomiting? Not a good feeling, but I shook his hand and replied in good spirit.

"No problem, you have no idea how much I prayed when I saw your ship docking, I am just glad you walked through that door, and not another one, or I might be in some Grineer lab getting dissected right now."

Arck put on a smile and I felt his grip tighten a bit as we shook hands, he eventually let go and the Lotus spoke up.

"So Marc, it would seem we have to house you for a good while, until we find out what to do with you. Sadly I do not know how many free living spaces we got left, you must understand we cannot let you live alone, at least not right away, we need to know how you adjust to being here."

I nodded, it was quite sound logic, leaving me alone could cause a lot of problems, I mean if I just decide to walk around the base without anyone to tell me where I am going, I might as well be walking into the women's showers, not that I would care mind you, I am sure it would be quite the sight, but I do also want to keep living. While the Lotus was pondering about what to do with me, I looked at Arck a little, he looked friendly enough, but my sweet heavens the dude was tall, we are talking a full meter and a half above me; it was terrifying to look at. But then again, since waking and getting my tests taken, I realized that I am really tiny here, I mean Alcor was at least a meter taller than me, same with Crawa and Sivra. But that didn't really faze me, eventually though I started to wonder if the Lotus was going crazy from all that thinking she was doing, but to my luck, and the Lotus relief Arck spoke up.

"He can live with me Lotus, I have a spare bed and I live in the lowest level of the living quarters, this way Marc would always be within reach of one Tenno, and he would not have to learn to navigate the living quarters above the first floor."

Lotus thought it over, and then she smiled and nodded.

"That is indeed a good idea Arck; I think this will suit us all perfectly. If you would lead him there now and show him around at the same time?"

Arck nodded and jerked his head at me in a motion to follow him; I bowed to the Lotus and then followed after Arck. I must say the Tenno main base, is quite impressive, there is actually running water and vegetation in here, when we got close enough I could actually touch the trees and feel the leaves, despite me not recognizing any of the trees in here, it was still beautiful to look at.

Arck remained quiet for the entire walk, I didn't ask him anything because I wasn't going to be pushy with a guy almost double my height, even I am not that stupid.

When we arrived at Arck's quarters, he opened the door and led me inside. It was actually quite modest I must say. Four rooms by my count, Bathroom, Kitchen, Living Room and Bedroom. Arck let me into the bedroom and showed me my bed, needless to say the thing despite being meant for only one Tenno, could easily hold two humans, so I didn't complain, not that I would even if I had a problem. He then showed me the Bathroom, and to my utter surprise the toilet looked much like the ones back home, just more futuristic and well streamlined I guess. The kitchen was next, and to my big surprise that looked way too much like a regular kitchen would, despite its odd look I recognized the stove, oven, fridge and cabinets, advanced technology my ass, this looks like something from a bad future house in the old amusement parks. And lastly Arck showed me the living room, in there was a couch, some of Arcks personal training equipment, his Warframe, which by the way I stared at for quite a while, and then there was a Window looking over the huge garden outside, and lastly I noticed the big bookshelf, with plenty of books I might add, but more or less what I expected from it really. Not like they needed television here, or a computer for that matter. Arck sat down and gestured me to do the same, as I sat down he began to speak.

"So Marc, this will be your home from now on, I don't have many rules, the simplest and most obvious one is, "don't touch my frame", if you do I will have no problem with physical punishment."

I nodded, it seemed obvious me too.

"Also, you can take whatever food you like, I don't eat that much, nor do I need too. If you want to go outside I will have to escort you, we will do a tour of the base at a later date. For now you just need to know how to get to the medical wing and back here."

I nodded again; this was simple rules to follow.

"Finally, there is the most important thing, watch out for who you talk with and let in here, anyone you think looks suspicious, which I imagine is everyone, don't let them in. And by no means do you let anyone near my frame. That is all the rules I really have, any questions?"

I looked around, and then back to Arck before answering.

"Nope, simple rules, followed easily, since I am in truth scared shitless of this place, for all I know you alone could split me in half with a finger wave."

Arck laughed at this, and to my surprise his laugh was hearty and loud, he looked at me with a glint in the eye before deciding to irk me a little.

"Yup, just a hand wave and you would most likely be in two pieces."

I cringed a little. That was not a good mental image for me to get in there. A knock sounded on the door, and Arck went to answer it. In the meantime I took a closer look at the Warframe in the room, and I must say, this thing look badass as all hell, I mean those of you who have seen the Rhino frame in the game, you know how badass this thing is, but trust me in real life, this thing look like it could go against an army of tanks, and still come out without a scratch.

Arck returned quite quickly, and if he had a problem with me looking at his frame he didn't say, all he did was tell me that we were going back to the medical wing for my test results.

Again the walk to the medical wing was silent, I was too busy observing everything I could, this entire place fascinated me to no end, and I mean I was inside one of my favorite video games for Christ sake! I faded a little from my mind as I walked and bumped into a corner, when I felt the pain I was shook back to reality, and a horrifying truth came crashing into my mind. I was in another world. I don't know if I can ever get back home. That truth really hit me hard, I continued to walk behind Arck, but now my mind wouldn't stop thinking about my family and friends I had left behind, and what the hell had actually happened to me back on earth? Did I just vanish into thin air? Or is there a corpse behind my front door.

Eventually we reached the medical wing again, and I was once more led into the same room I was in while I waited for Arck and the Lotus, it seems this is the waiting room. This time however it only took a minute for someone to appear, it was Crawa. Crawa came in and sat down in front of me and Arck, and not sooner than he had sat down, the Lotus walked in the door and did the same, in the chair next to Crawa. Crawa spoke almost as soon as the Lotus had sat down.

"Well Marc, I must say your physiology is fascinating, you have many organs that we Tenno have since either evolved from or simply don't have. Your body does also seem to be in quite the bad state, as you said yourself. But nothing life threatening, but your Blood sample is what really fascinates me, the way the red and white blood cells work is amazing, I could study it for years!"

Crawa was smiling the entire time, he obviously loves science very much, but I am not sure if I like the thought of him using my blood for his next thesis… Crawa spoke again.

"But all that aside I can't really tell how you will adapt to being here, I guess only time will tell."

I nodded, it would seem I am going to have to find a way to live on this base now, and just try and be useful to someone, I guess that starts with just answering any questions the lotus might have. As I was about to speak I felt a small amount of pain near my heart, it felt just like heart flutter, so I ignored it for now, I looked at the Lotus and spoke.

"So Lotus, if you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability."

The Lotus practically beamed at this, I must assume she really wants to learn about earth it in its younger days. She spoke with glee

"Yes! I have so many questions I want to ask, but I guess I will need some time to compile them in order, so that I can get the best answers, and make the most sense of them."

I smiled at her and nodded, it would seem I will get the rest of the day off to just explore, that is if Arck will show me around at all. I guess I should ask.

"Well then if you will need some time, Arck what do you say too sho…"

The pain I felt a minute ago returned, but this time it was excruciating, I couldn't stand it for more than few seconds before I felt my vision darken, and again I found myself slipping into unconsciousness.

**Third Person Point of View**

As Marc slumped forward, Arck reached forward and grabbed him, immediately Crawa stood up and opened a com line to the head medic.

"Alcor! We got an Emergency, Marc just collapsed! I am bringing him to observation room C!"

The response was immediate and sounded worried

"Understood, I will be there in two minutes, try to find out the cause!"

Crawa didn't bother to reply, he was too busy getting Marc carried into the observation room. As soon as Marc's body hit the bed Crawa started looking over him, checking his pulse and heart rate. Crawa felt a speedy pulse, and Marc looked like he was getting paler by the second, Crawa looked into Marc's eyes and saw they were rolled into the back of his head. The Lotus eventually spoke.

"Crawa, what is wrong with him?"

Crawa turned to the Lotus, a panicked look in his eyes.

"I don't know yet, so far it seems like a bleeding, but since we can't see any external wounds it must be internal, but we know next to nothing about his body, if I try to locate the injury I might make it worse!"

Lotus looked concerned for a while, until Alcor burst into the room. Crawa told Alcor every observation he had made so far, and Alcor agreed with his assessment.

"Crawa lets move him into the scanner, we need to find that wound!"

Crawa again didn't answer, he just started rolling Marcs bed into the scanner room. When they arrived Sivra was already there, with the scanner ready for use, no words were said, every action carefully performed with perfection that came of years of experience for all three of the medics present.

As the scanner did its work Alcor looked to Arck and started inquiring about where they had been since they left. Arck answered very carefully.

"I took him to my quarters, and then back here when you requested it Alcor, he could not have come into contact with anything that could cause an infection."

Alcors reply was immediate.

"Not for us maybe, but remember his physiology is completely different from ours, for all we know his body might not be able to handle anything in the air."

Upon hearing his own words Alcor seemed to come to a realization, he mumbled to himself.

"The air… his body must be used to some form of oxygen, as his lungs are fully developed, but what is different from air back then to the one we breathe now?"

Overhearing Alcors words, Lotus spoke up.

"Alcor, if he comes from Hayden Tennos time, then he is from earth, which means he used to breathing clean oxygen, our air contains a lot of antibodies, as well as nanites to ensure that every Tenno is as healthy as they can be before missions."

This made Alcors eyes open fully, he seemed to grasp what is wrong even before the scan finished.

"His body can't handle the antibodies we need; since his DNA is so much different from ours his body must be trying to reject them! And for all we know the Nanites might consider his entire body a disease to be cleansed!"

When the scanner finished, it only confirmed both of Alcors theories, Marc's body was trying to remove the antibodies from his system, but with the nanites also inside Marc, eating him from the inside slowly due to the nanites not recognizing the DNA of an old human, the stress on Marcs body is simply too much, it will break down in a matter of hours if this goes on. After a while of frantic talking and brainstorming on how to fix this, Crawa spoke up.

"I have a theory, but whatever or not it will work I do not know."

Everyone simply gestured for him to continue.

"What if we inject Marc with our own DNA? Try to fool the nanites into thinking he is Tenno? Maybe with our DNA present, the antibodies will also take hold in his body and his body might stop rejecting them?"

Lotus merely looked on, so did Arck and Sivra, Alcor however looked thoughtful before he spoke.

"That might work, but if we do this, it can't just be a small portion of our DNA, we are will need to somehow fuse his DNA with ours, basically make him a hybrid, either that or his body might reject the new DNA too, and that will surely kill him."

Alcor looked to the lotus for permission, she nodded, letting Alcor know this is what he is to do, and understanding that, Alcor immediately started working on the process. Alcor also ordered Crawa to begin planning out Marcs DNA so that the two strands could fuse and become one.

The race to save Marcs life was ongoing, the DNA that was used was freely given by Arck, in knowledge that this in theory made Marc his half-brother, but Arck didn't care about that stuff at first, right then it was all about making sure Marc would survive.

When the procedure began you could almost cut the tension in the air with a knife, rumor had spread about the humans condition and many a Tenno showed up, to either witness the death of a human or the birth of a hybrid, both a first for any Tenno present. After three hours the procedure was done, and Marc was put into a closed room where he could be observed for the next many hours to come, that would show if he would survive and become a hybrid, or die a human.

**10 Hours following the procedure**

Marcs numbers stabilized, his heart calmed down to normal levels again, and some of the antibodies began taking hold inside his body.

**21 Hours following the procedure**

Marc's skin began paling visibly, as well the nanites in his body reversing their actions, now working to fix Marcs inside rather than destroying them.

**48 Hours following the procedure**

Marc's skin is now as pale as any other Tennos; his eyes have taken on the same blue color as his donor Arcks, as well as his hair changing into the same color as Arck. All the antibodies have taken hold and are working in tandem with the nanites to ensure Marc remains healthy. The procedure is a success and Marc is now the first Tenno/Human hybrid to ever exist.

**My point of view**

When I finally come to again, I feel different, good almost perfect really, like nothing is wrong with my body, I also feel slightly stronger or healthier perhaps. I try to open my eyes, but find it quite the challenge since my entire body feels like a ton bricks, but despite it all I slowly force my eyes open. Like last time I awoke from a blackout I am met with slightly dimmed lights, but this time my vision isn't blurry, in fact its better then I remember. I sit up and rub my eyes for a second, and that's when I notice, my fingers a pale, like really pale, they almost look like… a Tennos… holy shit.

My first reaction is hyperventilating, I start breathing rapidly as I check the rest of my body, and indeed I am as pale as the Tenno, I look around the room and notice a mirror by the wall, I slowly get out of my bed, and I take the most careful steps I have ever taken towards that mirror. When I finally reach it and see my reflection, I don't believe it at first, it's like it doesn't really register at first, but the more I stare at it the more I must accept that the reflection starting back through the mirror, really is me. In a flash of rage, I smash my hand into the mirror breaking it, I am surprised when I don't feel any pain, nor is there any wound on my fist despite just smashing glass, slowly my anger turns into confusion, and I try hard to recall what the hell has happened. The last thing I remember is asking Arck if he would show me around the base, and then nothing.

My thought pattern is broken when the door opens, and I lay eyes on Sivras form coming through the door.

"Good, you are awake. We were starting to worry that you were dead"

I looked at her and I get more confused, the question pops through my mouth before I think.

"What. The. Hell. Happened?"

The tone is a lot more threatening then I meant it to be, but alas if you woke up and found your body had changed its color along with your eyes and hair, you might be a little distressed as well. To Sivras credit she didn't even flinch.

"You collapsed two days ago, your body was trying to reject the antibodies that float in the air of this base, as well as the nanites that come with those antibodies"

My look of confusion grows bigger as I can't stop myself from asking.

"How did you save me?"

Sivra smiles warmly at me and answers.

"We spliced you DNA with ours, you are now the first ever Human/Tenno hybrid."

The answer hit me like a ton of bricks and my legs give out from under me, Sivra hurries to my side to check if something is wrong, but physically I am fine, mentally I might be a bit broken, I mean a hybrid? Really? That was the only way to save me. Fuck… I really don't know what to do now, so I ask.

"How?"

Sivra smiles again.

"Arck donated his DNA for the procedure, it took a while, but eventually your body accepted the new DNA and along with that acceptance came the acceptance of the antibodies and nanites."

I got tears in my eyes, and slowly they started falling, it was not loud crying, just tears falling down my cheeks, partially of happiness for being alive, and partially out of fear of now being both Tenno and human at the same time. Eventually Sivra got me back into the bed, she left to grab the Lotus, apparently she wanted to get notified the instant I awoke, and I was left in silence.

The silence didn't last long, about two minutes after Sivra leaving, Arck entered the room. I could see it in his eyes, concern, fear, but most of all determination; he spoke with a strong voice.

"It is good to see you awake my friend. I feared your body might reject my DNA. But now that you have gained acceptance to it, I guess there is no way around it, now we are brothers, in the biological term at least."

He said the bit with a small grin, and I smiled back realizing he was right. If it was Arcks DNA I received I guess that makes us brothers in some regard, funny I only ever had one brother, my older brother back on earth, now suddenly I got another one inside the Warframe universe, this is getting stranger by the minute.

"So I guess now you will have to live with your brother huh Arck? That is if you still want to keep me around"

I said with a half-smile, and to great joy Arck simply smiled and replied.

"Of course I will keep you around, for nothing else then to ensure that you don't have another break-down, after all we don't know how well your body will take too all these changes."

I gave a nod and a silent thank you as the Lotus walked through the door. She also had a large smile on her face, and her words are calm and caring.

"Well Marc I will say you are now even more unique then before, Welcome to the ranks of the Tenno"

And with that, it all begins anew inside my head; I wonder how this is going to turn out.

**2 Years later. (2 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

It has been so long since that little procedure that turned me into a Hybrid, in the two years that have passed the other Tenno have taken to calling me Echo, the reason for the nickname I guess comes from the fact I now am, a sort of echo of both human and Tenno. My body has also changed a lot in the last two years, it slowly got thinner and more muscled, but as I quickly learned, it is merely my body refitting itself to match my new DNA, I did not become stronger in any sense, if anything it was like my new DNA just removed all extra fat on my body and left me only with my muscles.

In the two years that have gone me and Arck have become like real brothers, he teaches me everything he can at all times, always going on and on about my safety, it's nice really, I missed my real brother and family all the time, so having Arck around acting like my brother was good for my soul. Right now, I am walking in the hall of reverence, it's a hall filled with Warframes, well there is only 18 Warframes in here, those are all the known ones at least, there are plenty of open spots for future Warframes that still haven't been unearthed.

I love walking around in here, it helps keep my sanity a bit in check, I always force myself to remember my past, my friends and family and everything about my home, I never want to forget. But as it stands I am just living my life, I somehow managed to enter this interesting relationship with Sivra, she says it's because she finds me interesting, and I know that is because of the whole hybrid thing, but I hope this turns into something more.

But this time my little trip to the Hall of Reverence is more than just a tour around the hall, I am choosing my Warframe, yeah I know crazy, but Arck says he wants me to choose, everyone seems to think that now that I have Tenno DNA, I should be able to pilot a Warframe, I hope they are right, because to be honest, since I found this hall for the first time, it has been my dream to pilot one. Sivra, who uses a Trinity frame on her missions often tells me my mindset is just right for a Volt or Loki frame, but I have actually been looking at the Oberon frame a lot, I only just managed to play with it for a while back home on earth when it was released, and I liked what I tried, a good combination of Defense and Offence, but Arck have warned me, when choosing a frame don't force it, you need to let the Warframe choose you as much as you choose it. This however let to quite the joke about me being chosen by the Valkyr Warframe, it is a hybrid between Corpus Tech and Tenno Technology, so everyone seems to think we match, I don't really want them to be right.

I walked around the Warframes, touched them all felt the material strength, but also I felt for any connection with the Warframes, surprisingly enough when I walked past the Rhino frame, I felt this small pull towards it, like this was where I belonged. When I touched it I felt a rush, my heart began to beat faster and faster, and that's when I knew it, I took my hands of the Warframe and walked out of the hall, I was making a line straight for me and Arcks quarters, I had made my choice, and I was sure Arck would approve.

I stormed into our home and actually made Arck jump a bit in surprise, and that in turn made me surprised, in the two years I have been here I have tried many times to give Arck a shock, never made it, so this time I got really curious why he jumped, I moved forward into the living room even faster than before, my curiosity driving my legs forward at a good pace, when I finally stuck my head inside the living room I instantly got the hugest grin I have ever had on my face, Arck was with someone, and not just anyone he was with Eryna, the number one ranked Banshee Warframe operator in the entire Tenno order, not to mention number one on the most wanted child partners list. When Arck saw my stupid grin he opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

"Ohh I am so telling Locar about this!"

And I sprinted for the door. Those of you who don't know Locar is a Loki frame operator and tad bit annoying, the guy has a good heart he just likes his jokes a bit too much, and Arck hates him with a passion despite them actually getting along okay. But alas I didn't make it very much further than the door before Arck grabbed my color and stopped me with a choke that put me straight on the floor.

"Like hell you will tell that maniac anything! In fact you tell anyone about his and will ensure you and Sivra never have to consider having kids!"

That made me cringe, because he meant it. So I just got back up on my feet closed the door, turned around and smiled at his face. It is to be noted that this is still a hard thing to do, remember Arck is close to three meters and sixty centimeters tall, I have grown a little more since getting my DNA mixed with Arcks but not that much, twenty centimeters at most. I smiled him in the face and walked past him into the living room where I put my hand out towards Eryna.

"How are you Eryna, I am Echo, Arcks brother nice to see someone finally got into his pants, he needed it badly, perhaps now he won't take so long showers"

I saw the smile and blush on Eryna's face, she might be a top Tenno but she is still a woman and a very sensitive one at that, at least when it comes to sexual matters. But alas one joke in this house is enough to get punched, and so I did, and so I hurt my arm once again leaving it useless for a few hours while I nurse it. Amidst Arcks attempts to tell Eryna that he only spends about ten minutes in the shower, and sending murderous stares at me he finally got to asking.

"So did you pick a Warframe yet Echo?"

I practically beamed, and forgot the pain for a few minutes.

"Yup, I am going to choose the Rhino just like you brother."

Arck looked a little surprised about that, but his smile was genuine and I knew he was both happy and proud of my choice. Eryna gave me a small congratulations as well, to which I bowed as thanks, the rest of the day went with me and Arck discussion the Rhino frame, with Eryna pitching in her knowledge from a Banshee stand point, it was fun.

When Eryna finally had to get home Arck led her to the door, and as soon I knew she was just out of ear shot, I decided that one more bruise for tonight would be okay.

"So, Eryna huh? She must be quite the screamer"

I didn't even get to smile about that one, Arck grabbed me in a headlock and once again we started one of our little sparring fights where he would usually end it by sitting on me…

**6 Years later. ****(8 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

Ever killed before? Me neither, at least not until a few months ago. My training with the Rhino Warframe began almost as soon as I had officially announced my choice, and what a hell I went through. Over the years following my choice I went through the toughest training I have ever had to endure, a whole new mentality had to be put in place for me to even work with Warframe at a functional level, it took me a few years but I got a hold of it eventually. Then it happened, I was sent on my first assignment, alone.

Fresh out of training and only limited understanding of what my Warframe could actually do I was sent out alone to take care of a small Grineer station, according to the reports there were only fifteen Grineer on the station which wouldn't even be enough to break down the Iron Skin of my Warframe before I would have managed to clear the entire thing. But I was not ready for what I was about to do, it all started okay really, I made my way aboard the ship and fairly quickly I cornered one of the Grineer and took his weapon, but right there as I was about to kill him, something inside my body decided to give in and I started sweating and shaking, every inch of my mind screamed at me to stop and not press the trigger, that what I was doing was nothing short of murder, he couldn't defend himself for Christ sake! But that is when it happened the first time… I felt something in the back of my mind, a presence that didn't belong there a hostile one, thanks to the reflexes that had been honed over the past five years I managed to avoid the blade that was aiming for the weak spot on my neck, and right there on pure reflex I turned around aimed my rifle and shot the Grineer straight through the forehead…

Something dies inside you when you make your first kill… the last act of defiance of whoever you kill, they take just a small amount with you I guess you could call it the last of your innocence? The one little bit of you that still shines bright in the dark, it might just be me but that is what I think. The rest of the mission went more or less the same, almost every kill besides the ones that I made on combat reflex I had to stop and force my finger to press the trigger to kill anything… except the last one… I still remember it clearly, more so than anything else really, me standing over him fear visible in his eyes, and then the sound of a bullet leaving the barrel and the subtle sound of brain exploding, and just like that it was over. I don't know why I did it, but I gathered all fifteen bodies in front of my escape pod, I still remember taking off my helmet and getting bombarded by smells and the like… I also remember inspecting the corpses… fifteen corpses, fifteen wounds, fifteen kills, each and every one of them memorized… I don't know what came first, the scream or the tears but both were there that I can assure you, I don't know how long I sat still with tears falling, but after a while they dried out and I left that station behind, the first of many memories burned into my mind, and that is where it began… my decent into the dark reaches of my mind, right there on that day I stared down two paths, and I chose the one that led into the dark.

**16 Years later. ****(24 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

As the years passed I got better and better at killing, slowly but surely I made my way into the ranks of the Tenno and even managed to garner a bit of a reputation for someone so "young". I swear when I found out that a Tenno lives to be two thousand? And that my brother was one thousand one hundred and thirty eight years old? See those two I dealt with just fine, and then I learned that Sivra was… older… a good nine hundred years older than me to be exact, now that I didn't deal with especially well, let's leave it at me spending quite a few hours alone in my room staring off into nothing. But as I let the years slide by everything turned out a lot better than what I had expected, the killings became easier to deal with, though the feeling in my gut never went away after each kill, according to Arck that feeling isn't supposed to go away, and if it ever does I would have become something far worse than what I fight.

**53 Years later. ****(77 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

Memories… how I grew to detest them. Tenno have perfect memory, so everything I knew before the DNA surgery is now permanently burned into my mind, as is everything I have done since then. Seventy seven years later, and I remember it all… So much happened in that time, I changed a lot mentally at least. I started working in the engineering department alongside some of the smartest Tenno to have ever lived, we started on a project together "The Alpha-Frame", a work of genius really, combining multiple Warframes into the same frame, thus making the Tenno operating it virtually capable of adapting to any situation. Arck keeps telling me that I need to be careful with it, same as Sivra keeps saying but I mostly ignored them at the time, I didn't see a reason to be careful.

**80 Years later. ****(157 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

"So. How did it feel?"

"The change needs to go a lot of quicker Trekon, at this rate we leave the operator way to exposed in the period of change, other than that? It worked like a charm, it has taken us eighty years but we finally have a functioning prototype"

Trekon simply smiled at me and left me alone once I had taken off the Alpha-Frame, that thing truly is amazing, with its ability to change between so many different Warframes allowed me to take down an entire Grineer research station without problem, hell the entire station didn't know I was there until half of them were already dead.

After living for a hundred and seventy seven years I really have changed a lot, same goes for my combat style. We recently recovered an ancient Tenno weapon, it's a Katana named "Nikana" damn thing is amazing, I have yet to come across something it can't cut. I train with the blade whenever I get the chance, and I have even gotten a few jokes from some people that I am more attached to this weapon then I am to my wife… Yeah me and Sivra married a few years ago, I don't know what triggered it really, but I still remember sitting in our sofa and talking and then out of nowhere I asked without really thinking about it, and she agreed. Arck nearly died from laughter when he heard how it went down, but I myself couldn't see the humor in it, but I can't see the humor in most things anymore.

**125 Years later. ****(282 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

Looking at the casket burning I can still feel her hand on my cheek…

"Hey brother, how are you holding up?"

I glance up at Arck, he has been giving me a lot of space now that Sivra is dead, I guess he feels somewhat guilty since it was his idea that Sivra and Eryna came along with us to the Void to look for some more schematics. I don't blame him, my own weakness caused the death of my love.

"I am fine Arck. You should go home to your family"

He looked like he was about to argue but closed his mouth and walked off. I left a few hours later, having never shed a tear over my lost love… no my tears had long since dried out. Instead of mourning like I should have done I did something else, I tracked down the biggest Grineer colony I could find and then I went and retrieved the Alpha-Frame and went on my way.

It became a story that would be told among the Tenno for many generations, the tale of "The Bloody Echo"… the tale of how one Tenno in his anger and grief went down to a Grineer settlement and slaughtered over six hundred people alone, and returned with nothing on his Warframe but the blood of his victims. I didn't speak when I came back, after that in fact I rarely spoke at all, silence became my constant companion and impassiveness my friend and I stopped caring…

**51 Years later. ****(333 Years Since Arrival in Warframe)**

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean where would you go? How will you survive?"

Glancing up at my brother's wife, I give her an impassive stare.

"Who said I was intending to survive this trip?"

I felt the slap coming, yet I didn't move nor did I flinch when the hand impacted my face, Eryna was in tears and yelling at me calling me irresponsible and careless. Today is the day I leave the Tenno behind, I can't take it anymore I hate being here, now I leave whenever I can for whatever mission they will give me. Walking over to my ship I look over its side, seeing the name engraved on the side "Shadow", and it truly is, outfitted with the newest stealth technology and a fully functional engineering compartment, this ship will get me going for a good while.

Feeling a new presence entering the docks I look over and see the Lotus enter with a small container in her hand, as she approaches I kneel.

"Rise Echo, you know that much like your brother you don't need to kneel to me, where is he now where I think of it?"

"At his home Lotus, he believes that this trip is foolish and that I will get myself killed. Have you come to see me off Lotus?"

Lotus looked sadly at me for a few seconds, she still feels bad for what she in her own words "have turned me into", she is referring to the way I have become since Sivra dying, I don't hold her responsible for my own choices.

"Yes, and to grant you one more gift for your journey, one that hopefully will bring you back home to us safe and sound, since you decided to leave your Rhino behind for this little trip of yours…"

She hands me the container and as I open it I look up at Lotus with a passive look in my eyes and my mind.

"The Alpha-Frame, Lotus? Not that I don't appreciate the gift, but taking this won't we be setting the engineering department back hundreds of years?"

Not a second later did I feel the Lotus body pressed against my own as she hugged me, I felt the warmth spread across my body and for the first time in a long time I returned a hug.

"Your survival is more concerning than how much the engineering department will have to work over, you just come back safe and sound to all of us"

Nodding I gave a wave to Eryna who waved back with tears in her eyes, the Lotus stepped over and pulled her into a hug, comforting her and leading her away at the same time. When they were both out of sight I stepped up to the doors of my ship and opened them.

"You can step out of the shadows now Borth, I can feel your presence clear as day. Come to give me another goodbye have you?"

Slowly a Loki Warframe steps out of cloak and walks up to me, putting his hand out for me to shake, I grab hold and give my old friend one last handshake before he and I will be separated for a long time.

"Yeah… You come back ya hear? I aint losing my best friend because you forgot to refuel or some stupid shit like that"

I give him a court nod and he starts heading out of the hangar as well. Entering the ship I walk over and press a button on the dashboard, a small sound lets me know that I have company.

"_Operator Echo, all the necessary preparations have been made for your flight. Do you wish to depart?"_

Glancing back out the door once final time I take in what little I can of the Tenno base before I turn out again.

"Yeah… Let's get out of here Eva"

"_Departing…"_

As the ship roars to life I sit down in the pilot chair and see as we make our way out among the endless number of stars.

**4 months after depature.**

Four months of flying, four months of killing any Grineer or Corpus stations I could. It has gotten tiring to deal with these guys all the time, but I have to none the less. During my flight I have done nothing but keep my skills sharp with my sword and my knowledge in engineering intact. But something has been keeping my mind from focusing on the enemy for the past few days, that flicker I see in the world… just like when I was pulled here to the Warframe universe almost three and a half centuries ago. It's always the same, this hulking monstrosity of an object appears in my field of vision and the next it is gone, whatever I am actually about to pass over into a new world or my paranoia simply have gotten the best of me I really do not know…

Hitting the next sector it happens once more, only this time a hell of a lot of stronger than before, I can actually feel my body split between worlds for a fraction of a second, whatever small part of me that still feels love for Arck and Eryna back home jumps into gear and I start franticly writing a message to them, as I finish and send the message on its way I feel the final pull begin, the raw pressure on my body makes me black out.

* * *

"…oice! Focus on my voice!...You ha… cus…"

What the hell? Who's voice is that, I have heard it somewhere before… argh my head is too foggy… can't focus….

"No! Stop! Don't think, just focus on my voice and only my voice! Listen it's too late for me to control your shift, but I can direct it! I will aim as close as I can to sometime you will know!... Goddamnit I am losing you again! Listen… Eric … fi… ic… he know…. **Find him**!"

That is all I register before I feel my consciousness disappear once more and darkness consumes me. As I wake up I place my head in hands as I feel a massive headache, it's like someone tried to split it across with a Galantine and didn't finish the job… Looking out the window my eyes land on a giant space station, at first I didn't really recognize it, but soon enough my eyes fall upon a giant spaceship floating near the station and then my memory danced across my eyes and a name dropped from my lips

"The Citadel…"

**A/N: Right Chapter 2 is finished, minor changes for those of you who came here after the rewrite began, of course none for those of you who have just started reading after I started rewriting it, Welcome!**

**So things will pick up from here on, I hope some of you will like the changes I have decided to make, following a lot of comments and a few things I noticed myself I have decided to turn Marc back into the original idea I had for him, turning him into what you saw in the last half of this chapter.**

**PS: From now on "My point of view" Becomes "Marcs point of view" as Marc/Echo and I no longer share anything but name.**


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting back down I didn't even realize I had stood up. _'The Citadel… from Mass Effect… how in the hell'_ my mind was running a million miles per minute, I mean I kinda figured I was going somewhere new when I blacked out but… that voice, it told me to do something… to find someone _"'Find him!'"_ that is about all I can remember about it. Staring out the window onto the Citadel I feel a small lump in my throat, a thing I haven't felt in a long time. _'Just what the hell am I supposed to do here?'_ my mind ran towards helping Shepard but I don't see the point, I don't even know **when** I am right now for all I know I am staring at a Citadel that has never seen a human before… _'And if I stepped on they still wouldn't see one'_. Leaning back in my chair I start staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out a path of action to take… better start with cloak.

"Eva, engage Cloak and start moving towards the Citadel, also get me the date"

"_Understood Operator… Searching"_

Eva is my ships VI, she has been with me for almost a hundred years, I still think she is an AI and is just holding back on me in fear of me erasing her, but that is her irrational fear to deal with. Glancing back out onto the Citadel that is slowing getting closer my mind drops towards Shepard once again and I start entertaining the question of whatever it is a man or woman.

"_Search Complete, the current date is 2182. Anything else Operator?"_

"Search for any information on Commander Shepard"

"_Searching…"_

'_2182… so at least a year until Mass Effect even begins, this leaves me a little time to get familiar with the world, might even give me a chance to figure out what I want to do in this world'_ The potential is great, I could help Shepard beat the reapers or I could just do it myself, I know where everything is and a few good nods here and there and we can have the crucible build in half a year if not less. But doing this would also put everything in jeopardy, after all without the events of the games taking place a lot of peace treaties will never be signed, and who the hell knows what will happen with the Collectors?

"_Search Complete. Commander Sarah Montez Shepard, born and raised on various spaceships due to her parents' constant reassignments. Excellent service record, decorated with the Star of Terra for holding off a Batarian assault alone during the battle for Elysium. Multiple other military actions have earned her high praise from her superiors, and she is apparently being considered for the first human Spectre"_

"Thank you Eva"

Spacer, War Hero and "Montez"? You learn something new every day. For now the focus is going to be on surviving until then, I need to acquire a place to sleep besides my ship also I need to familiarize me with the standards of this world as well as the weaponry, much more so than what I already know from the games.

"Eva, is there any viable place to set down the Shadow in cloak?"

"_Searching… … … Search Complete. One suitable location found, a high end apartment complex in the area known as "The Presidium", the roof holds nothing and only a single entrance accessible through the pent house, this would make an ideal hiding location. This is a temporary measure and the Shadow should be moved again within a year"_

"Good, start heading there Eva, avoid anything you deem a detection risk"

"_The population will be a problem… two hundred and twenty centimeters tall, and pale as a ghost… that will draw attention. My clothes will stick out as well, I need to find a suitable set of clothes as soon as possible once I have landed, the way I look should eventually be ignored by the majority of the Alien population, I highly doubt anyone of them know enough about human culture to find my looks shocking"._ I watched as we approached the Citadel and entered their airspace, I was surprised by the sheer size of the Citadel in reality this place is huge and I am not surprised by the fact that someone could probably live their entire life on the citadel and still not have seen all of it. As we made our way into the Presidium I noticed a lot of places I knew, like the giant Krogan statue and the Citadel tower that houses the Council _'Bunch of Idiots'_.

After a while we finally arrived at the apartment building that Eva had told me about, and as we landed on the roof I noticed what she mean about high end, this place was elegant and even the roof looked like it cost more than your average apartment. Setting down I waited for the doors to pressurize and open up, when they finally did I stepped outside and got my first real look at the Citadel. A wave of nostalgia hit me like a hammer, for some reason I felt slightly at peace looking out over all the buildings and ship hanging by their docks, and if you looked towards the end you could see it, empty space. Turning towards the stairs that would lead me down into the pent house I start going towards it, as I reach the door I wait a few seconds before activating it and walking through _'No password? That's… convenient'_ stepping down the stairs I eventually reach another door, figuring this led into the apartment I leaned against the wall and started to focus.

Now have you ever heard of people being able to sense others in the room? It's common among martial arts people, you know that feeling you have that someone is either staring at you or is in your near vicinity? Yeah I have that too, only a lot stronger. For me it goes beyond just sensing I can feel people that are near me, when I first found this out I figured it was just from the large amounts of combat experience I had acquired, but when I asked Arck he said he had heard of people being able to sense others yeah, but actually feel them and be a hundred percent sure they were there? He had never heard of that. The way it works is simple really, when I focus I start picking up this feeling around me, try and picture a completely dark room and then imagine you have a set of heat vision goggles, now you can see roughly the outline of everyone in the room yeah? Well so can I. When I focus enough inside my mind these pillars of energy appear and they represent people, using this I have been able to determine how many people have been in any given area, as long as they were within fifty meters of me. So far vision has not been a requirement for me to feel someone. The ability has a lot of other uses too, just like a martial artist I too can feel anyone in my close vicinity, and it doesn't even have to be that close if you come within fifty meters of me I know you are there, I can't tell exactly where you are, but I know you are there and you can't hide from it, at least so far I have met no one who could.

Inside the apartment I could feel seven people, now funny thing about this ability? The "feeling" is different depending on your species, explaining what I feel is quite difficult, so just imagine it as each different species feeling like a different material, you know Infested feels like fur, Grineer like Metal and Corpus like water, that sort of thing. Inside I felt seven people, but there were three distinct signatures of energy, meaning I am facing three different species in there. As far as I can sense none of them are anywhere near the door, so I try and open it and much like the upper door this one isn't locked _'Who the hell leaves doors unlocked?'_ As I enter the small room I instantly see something that makes me back out of the door again, _'Blue Suns armor… Not good, if this is a Blue Suns base then I have a problem, staying here would only attract negative attention… Well killing them would help the general public and gain me a residence and an omni-tool'_ Agreeing with my own idea in my head I went back to my ship and put on my Alpha-frame. Now this frame is not much to look at, it looks like an Excalibur frame with a more square head and no face, it's completely black except for the joints that glow red, to be honest I look like the Stalker when I wear it. Grabbing my Nikana from the locker I take it out of its sheath and look it over, it still as sharp as ever.

I decided against changing the Alpha-Frame into anything else, figuring that I didn't need it to deal with a group of Blue Suns, if they even managed to react before most of them were dead. Stepping down in front of the door I closed my eyes and focused once more, all seven were still there and from what I could tell four of them were in the same room while two were in another and one was alone, I opted to go for the one who was alone. As I stepped out through the door I noticed the one who was alone was behind the door right in front of me, I walked over and stood next to the door and waited. A few seconds later I heard a toilet flush and the door opened, the guy who turned out to be a batarian didn't have time to react before I impaled him through the throat with my blade effectively silencing him, he dropped down and blood started pouring out of the wound, the batarian was already dead before he hit the ground. Moving over to another door I felt the presence of two behind that door, going for a surprise I opened the door and waited until one of the individuals in the room decided to speak

"Hey, who is there?" When no answer came "Jared I swear if you are pulling one of your stupid pranks I will shoot your dick off!"

I looked behind me and wondered if it was Jared lying there on the ground, I didn't care really I just wanted the other guy to come out here, and he did. As he stepped through the doorframe I brought my Nikana to his neck and took his head clean off, letting the blade fall down behind me I dashed into the room, before the last guy could react to my presence and the sudden beheading of his comrade I drove my blade into his stomach, when he grabbed it in an attempt to pull it out I grabbed both side of his head and snapped it to side breaking his neck with an audible crack. Looking over the two corpses I noticed that the one now missing his head was also a batarian and the one in front of me with a broken neck was human. That took care of two of the three different energy types I felt, meaning from what I know of the Blue Suns the last one is probably turian. Standing in front of the final door I closed my eyes and concentrated on the last four individuals, I felt two with the unknown energy signature (presumably Turian) and one with the signature of a batarian, and one human. _'Knock out one Turian for questioning, kill the remaining three… Engage Warframe: Rhino'_ I feel the Alpha-frame shift around my body, taking the form of the chosen Warframe. As the transformation finishes I move around a bit to check that everything is as it should be _'Everything feels right… Engage: Iron Skin'_ slowly a small layer of silver substance covers the Rhino in a protective coating which will hopefully absorb the majority of the shells I will be at the end of. Breathing in a few times I open the door and walk into the room, the silence in the room is thick enough for my Nikana to cut. Before anyone manages to react I knock one of the turians unconscious with the hilt of my blade, as the first shot gets fired I swing around and use the momentum to cut the second turian in half, as more bullets make contact with my Iron Skin I notice that they are already breaking through the rather thin layer of protection _'A thing to note for future use'_ stepping up to the batarian I simply bring my sword up and take off his head, now only the lone human remains. He didn't manage to do much more then stutter a few weak sentences and a few whimpers before finally blacking out from fear _'One hell of a Blue Suns member he is…'_ I place my blade right above his heart and drive it through.

Walking around the apartment I am trying to find something to bind the Turian with; eventually I do find a bit of metal coil that should function for my short term needs. After I finished binding the Turian with the metal coil I simply wait for him to wake up, it only took about five minutes. At first he was just mumbling all sorts of random things, then I realized that I didn't understand what he was saying at all _'Omni-tool translator… right…'_ walking over to the dead human in the room I remove his omni-tool and place it on my own arm.

"Eva, combine the two types of tech for me real quick, just make a raw combination nothing intricate"

"_Understood… Done"_

Walking over to the turian who was half awake I grabbed one of his fringes and pulled it to the side to the point where I thought it was going to brake, it woke him up.

"ARGH! What the hell are you doing?!"

He finally looked at me and I swear I thought I saw his scales lose color for a second. When he finally looked around the room and realized his position I started to speak.

"Answer my questions and maybe you will get to live. How many other Blue Suns know about this base?"

He looked skittish for a few seconds before he decided to answer

"None, me and the boys rented this place for ourselves for when we weren't on duty, we didn't tell anyone because those rats would come and try and take the place for themselves"

"How many months have you paid for?"

"Three more after this one, why?"

Bringing my Nikana to his throat I pushed the blade through and severed whatever held his head to his shoulders.

"No reason"

Wiping my Nikana of blood I started gathering the corpses and put them up on the roof, cleaning the blood from the floors would be done another day, for now I needed to go see whoever the landlord was and inform him of his new tenant.

* * *

I had dropped of the Alpha-frame, figured walking into the landlords office covered in blood was not such a good idea. Entering the office I saw a Turian sitting behind a rather large desk, he was busy messing with his Terminal, he didn't bother looking up until I made a not so polite coughing gesture.

"What do you want human?"

A small smile played across my lips, _'haven't been called human in a while'_ he seemed like he held the same reservations against humans that any other species does, but it also gave me a little hope that my pale skin didn't present much of a problem to other species, only other humans.

"Are you aware that your pent house was leased out to seven Blue Suns mercs?"

"What of it? They paid six months in advance; they can do whatever the hell they want for all I care"

"I see. I am here to inform you I have taken over their apartment, and will be staying there for the remaining three months they have paid for"

His eyes opened slightly more at my statement.

"And they won't have a problem with that?"

"Dead people rarely complain, and before you think of contacting C-Sec, let me tell you that **you** will be dead before they get here, so for the next three months I will be living in the pent house. Complaints?"

"None. Planning on paying rent once those three months are up?"

He asked with a little shaky voice, probably thinks I am going to kill him.

"Of course, I merely intend to make good use of the three months' worth of credits that have already been spent, at the end of those three months I will pay rent"

The landlord simply nodded and I turned and walked up to my new apartment. Time to clean.

**8 Months until Eden Prime**

Waking up in a real bed is… nice, preferable to waking up in a cot. I have been on the Citadel for almost two months now, for the majority of that time I have been staying in the apartment and using Eva to gather bits and pieces of information on various things, it seems the Blue Suns have quite the presence on the Citadel as it stands right now, as for the previous tenants of this apartment? Cleaning out the corpses was easy enough, dumping them somewhere down in the wards where no one would look for them, and if they were found then who even cares if seven Blue Suns are found dead?

Today I was planning to go acquire some new clothes; Tenno uniforms do stick out quite a bit. My earlier suspicion turned out to be correct as I walked on the streets I turned a few heads, but most of those were human, barely any of the other species decided to look at me. Of course the clothes were going to cost some credits, but that isn't a problem, the seven Blue Suns mercs had plenty of credits to their names on their accounts which Eva decided to "borrow" since they wouldn't be in any need of them. But there is simply no good clothing store anywhere on the Citadel; they all carry the same uncomfortable looking clothes that you see everyone in the game wearing. I was nearly ready to give up when I happened upon a small shop with the sign _"Earthly Commodities"_; it seemed like a better chance than any of the other shops. Entering the shop I noticed there was a lone cashier who turned out to be a young dark skinned girl with black hair held in two ponytails, she didn't look to be much older than eighteen. Much like my landlord she was deeply absorbed in something else, only for her it wasn't a terminal with possible business plans, her head was deeply burrowed in a copy of the rather explicit magazine "Fornax", now how the hell an eighteen year old human even got a hold of that I will never know, but stealing it from her parents seems like the most likely choice. I decided that the best way to get her attention was the same way I got the landlords attention, I coughed quite loudly. The magazine was back under the counter in a split second _'Good reflexes'_ the girl was looking somewhere near a tomato at this point.

"Y-Y-Yes? C-Can I help y-you?"

She didn't look me in the eyes, she didn't even try to, either from embarrassment or out of fear that the man that was reaching two head above her would kill her.

"I am looking for a set of clothes that fit a rather tall individual such as myself"

Her arms were shaking as all hell when she pointed over towards the corner of the shop, I nodded my head and thanked her and walked over towards the clothes. Standing over there I was surprised to find a set of jeans and some t-shirts and jackets that actually looked like they came from earth, I smiled a little to myself as I remembered the old times when I used to wear this kind of clothes every day. The price was a little steep but from what I understood it had to do with this being clothes that was only manufactured on earth now, and it was quite pricy to transport it to the Citadel. I made my purchases and changed in the shops changing rooms, the new set of clothes consisted of a classic combo, blue jeans with a white blank t-shirt, and a small black jacket to go over, all with a little modern twist so it didn't look completely out of place. Stepping out of the shop I started making my way towards my apartment. Walking down the street I placed my Nikana on my back, since I got the blade all those years ago I have taken to bringing it with me just about everywhere and walking around the Citadel is no exception, though I am quite surprised that C-Sec hasn't come looking for me over these two months, I mean how do they see someone carrying a sword around these days? Turning the corner that led me to the street where my apartment was at I stopped in my tracks.

"Took you long enough to catch up Officers, you have followed me since the clothes shop"

I can imagine the two officers' faces; they probably didn't expect to be caught, much less by a "human"

"I am sorry Sir, but we need you to turn around and face us" I did as they asked, they didn't even blink when they saw my face or complexion "The weapon you are carried will have to be handed over sir, we have no registered humans with a sword carrying license" The left turian with black clan markings put his hand forward in a _Hand it here_ motion. I took out my Nikana from it scabbard and pointed it in their direction.

"Anyone who tries to take my sword from me will find it stuck in their throat"

The reaction was immediate and understandable; both officers pulled out their guns and started to shout something about me having to put my hands up and get on the ground, I ignored them and simply side stepped and went behind the left turian before he could react and took my blade to his throat.

"Now I am under arrest, that much I am clear on. But as I said, try to take my sword and you will find it in your throat. So here is a deal, I will follow along to C-Sec and in turn you leave me with my sword and you don't lose a partner"

The last bit was aimed towards the other turian who shared the same black clan markings as the first one, meaning they were either brothers or something of the same arrangements. I noticed something in the eyes of the second turian though, when I threatened to take the first one's life more than just concern flared in his eyes, there was anger, fear, hatred and love?

"Or lose a lover, seems that would be more precise wouldn't it?"

I put my sword a little closer to the throat of the first turian, close enough so that if he moved a single muscle I would be drawing blood.

"Wait! Fine! If you come along peacefully then we will let you keep your sword! Just don't hurt him!"

"Forgive me if I don't trust you completely on that" He looked panicked as I brought the blade even closer, and then I lowered it and pushed the first turian into the other ones arms "But I will trust that you keep your word. Be warned though, if you try to remove this blade from my side, not even death will stop me from taking from you that which you hold most dear" I pointed my sword at the trembling turian in his arms. He nodded at me and made a gesture towards a street that would lead us to C-Sec.

* * *

'_Over three hundred years old… and my patience is still paper thin'_ I had spent a total of perhaps ten minutes inside the interrogation room at C-Sec before I was ready to get up and kill my way out _'Grand Master of the Tenno order… I am definitely honoring the title right now…'_ when the door finally opened I breathed a sigh of relief, then I noticed who had actually stepped through the door and that relief got replaced by annoyance.

"Mr. Vakarian"

I nodded to the ever so famous Turian with the ever so recognizable blue clan markings; he looked just like he did during Mass Effect, which was what I expected. I did however not expect to be meeting with Garrus at this point in time, or any point in time prior to the events of the games taking their beginning. He does look a little surprised that I know his name, but that doesn't surprise me. He walked over and placed my Nikana on the table, I had reluctantly given it up for registration when we arrived, though not without a warning that if this wasn't returned to me then C-Sec would be looking to hire **a lot**.

"Call me Garrus, Mr. Vakarian is my father, and you are?"

The smile on his way looked way too much business like for it to have ever been genuine; I imagine he was pulled in here by Pallin.

"Call me Echo"

Garrus let a scoff escape him

"Echo… alright, so care to explain why you threatened to kill a C-Sec officer, and why you are carrying a sword with you? Oh and before I forget, why we have absolutely no files on you what so ever?"

I shrugged

"I am new to the Citadel, and I didn't wish for anyone to know of my presence so there is your reason for lack of files, as for the sword? Well that is personal and I have no reason to tell you. And the C-Sec officer tried to take my sword from me, so I simply told them that anyone who tried to take it without consent from me would find said blade stuck in their throat"

Garrus stared at me for a good thirty seconds before he let out a long sigh.

"We are going to be here a while, want some coffee?"

'_Heh… there is the friendly Garrus I remember'_

"From C-Sec? You want me dead that badly?"

Garrus actually gave me a proper laugh at that and shook his head.

"I see what you mean, water?" I nodded "I'll be back in a minute"

He returned after a few minutes and placed a cup in front of me and sat back down, I guess he will want to know a few pieces of information, and he said we were going to be here a while, so that means I will not be allowed to leave until they get too bothered by me, I escape or I tell them what they want to know.

"So let's start with the sword itself, so far we haven't been able to even get it out of its sheath it seems to be locked, care to explain?"

"DNA Locked. It will only unlock once it is in my hands, this prevents the sword from being stolen"

Garrus nodded simply and glanced over the blade for a few moments, he then looked at me a little before pushing the sword over to my side of the table. I glanced down at the sword, knowing full well what he wanted me to do, I looked Garrus in the eyes and looked for permission, and he nodded in response. Gripping the sword the sheath recognized my DNA and released its locks, allowing me to bring out Nikana. Garrus looked like a kid at Christmas when he saw the blade itself, can't blame him really the thing is a work of beauty.

"Amazing craftsmanship, what is it made of?"

I put the blade back in its sheath and looked intently at Garrus.

"Sorry Garrus can't say, trade secret"

Truth is I don't even know completely myself, I have been able to forge something that was close to the Nikana in strength but I have not been able to match it completely yet, from what I understood it is because I am missing a rare element that can only be found in the very edges of the galaxy. Meaning it is completely out of my reach now. Right before Garrus was about to ask his next question an alarm started screaming across the entire C-Sec office.

"What is going on?"

I was the one who asked, and no sooner did the door open and a frantic Pallin stepped through.

"Vakarian leave him! The Turian councilor has been kidnapped by the Blue Suns!"

"What?!" Garrus yelled.

"Spirits Vakarian, get your ass moving!"

Garrus was out the door with Pallin within seconds, leaving me alone in the interrogation room. _'Sparatus was taken by the Blue Suns? What could they possibly gain from this?'_ once more removing Nikana from its sheath I placed the blade on the table and simply ran my restraints over it, cutting clean through the weaker metal. I walked out of the room and started making my way out of C-Sec _'Saving that idiot of a councilor would allow me to help Shepard later, perhaps even make him owe me a favor'_. Right as I reached the door I bumped into someone, that someone turned out to be Garrus, before he could say anything I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall and held him still, leaning next to his head I whispered.

"Listen to me Vakarian; I am going to save the councilor. If you want him to be safe then contact me on my Omni-tool and tell me where they have the councilor I will take it from there, if you don't want my help then that is fine as well, just remember this is your only chance for cooperation, I walk out that door I will take down C-Sec and Blue Suns alike to save the councilor, got it?"

Garrus looked at me angrily for a few seconds before nodding, I tapped a few things on my Omni-tool and send my information to Garrus, we then went our separate ways, I had to go get my Alpha-Frame.

* * *

It has been an hour since I left C-Sec, and I have yet to hear anything. From up here on the roof it is very obvious that there is something going on, there is too many Sky Cars flying around sporting C-Sec colors and alarms for someone not to notice. Eva informed me that a statement have already been given to the people about what has happened. _'Leave it to the council to somehow making the kidnapping of one of their own seem like a minor nuisance'_ I was almost ready to jump over the edge of the building just to do something when a Sky Car stopped right at the edge of the roof, the door opened and revealed Garrus inside.

"Get in, we have the councilors location, he is in a warehouse down in the wards"

I jumped inside and Garrus almost stepped on the speeder enough to step through the car itself. He seems more agitated by the thought of me helping, then by the fact that we have a kidnapped councilor on our hands.

"Fancy armor, missing a helmet though aren't you?"

I chuckled a little as I gave the command inside my head; a second later a helmet had formed over my head and a HUD was visible inside my helmet. After Garrus was done staring I disabled the helmet once more.

"Makes it easier to lead a conversation when I don't have a helmet on. So give me the details Garrus, what are we facing?"

Garrus gave a low growl.

"20 Blue Suns, all heavily Armed, the Warehouse is separated in two different sections, the councilor is held on the top floor in a closed room with only one entrance, if we attempt to go in through the roof we will be found out and the councilor killed, so far they haven't given any demands… What do you plan to do?"

I engaged my helmet when I saw the cluster of C-Sec cars in front of us gathered around a large building, I opened the door and looked down, the drop was far enough for my dampeners to take effect, right before I let myself drop out of door I turned to Garrus.

"Kill them"

I heard Garrus yell something as I fell, I blocked it out, I blocked everything out as I fell I barely even felt myself impacting with the ground, when I did I was already moving _'Engage Warframe: Loki'_ I felt the entire Warframe shift as I ran, the transformation synching with my movements so it changed the parts of the Warframe that wasn't touching the ground as I was running.

"Eva, give me a plan over the warehouse"

A few seconds later a map popped up at the side of my vision allowing me to maneuver inside the warehouse without getting lost. I reached the Warehouse after about a minutes worth of running, when I got there I had to bring all my focus on my ability to not get overloaded with the amount of people present, I felt too many different forms of presence in the surrounding area, it calmed down as I made my way to the backside of the Warehouse. Reaching the back wall I reached out and felt for any presence, I only found three who were on the level above me, everyone else was out of my reach, which meant they were most likely at the front of the warehouse.

"Eva, how thick is these walls?"

"_From the blueprints the walls are ten centimeters thick Operator"_

'_Would take too long to cut through with Nikana… Fuck this is going to drain me of energy. Warframe Switch: Excalibur'_ I felt the entire Alpha-Frame strain as it went from the Loki frame, back to neutral and then transformed into the Excalibur frame.

"_Warning: Energy levels at 50%" _

'_Fuck'_ looking up I estimated we were talking about thirty meters or so to get to the windows up there, breaking through them would be idiotic and counterproductive since I would like for them not to know I am here.

"Eva, any alternate entrances?"

"_On the east side of the building there is an opening from a ventilation shaft"_

I sprinted to the side of the building and found said vent, it was a good fifteen meters in the air, close enough to the ground for one super jump to reach it if I put a lot of power in it. Charging the jump I stood directly below the went and took out my Nikana, as the charge got ready I released the energy propelling myself into the air, as I reached the vent I grabbed hold of the bars and steadied myself. Getting in was simple enough, I cut through the bars with my Nikana and crawled in; the ventilation shaft was quite spacious, most likely due to the use of the warehouse. After crawling for a few minutes I stopped and closed my eyes, I can feel three people above me, but only two distinct forms of energy signature, meaning that it was two of one race in this case human, and the last one was Turian I recognized the signatures from earlier. _'The councilor and two humans guarding him, not too much trouble'_ a small sound rang through my helmet, indicating I was receiving a call, I closed off all sound from inside my helmet effectively soundproofing it before I accepted the call.

"Echo Responding"

"_Where the hell are you!?"_

'_Garrus…'_

"Inside, find a good spot where you can get a good shot, don't contact me again"

I disconnected the call and shut off my communicator. As much as I would like to think that twenty Blue Suns is just another set of bodies, we are talking weapons that my armor has never been hit by before, I don't know if my shield will even register the mass accelerated rounds they fire. After debating with my own mind for a few minutes I brought up the blueprint and found out that this ventilation shaft leads up to the next level, I made my way there though it proved a little more of a challenge then I originally thought, to crawl directly upwards in a closed duct without making sound, it proved an interesting challenge.

Crawling through the upper vents I eventually found myself above what I suspected to be the councilor and his two captors. In front of me was another vent opening leading into the room, I crawled forward and stuck my head out through the opening, _'Guess I was right, two humans and the turian councilor, both of them facing the door…'_ dropping down from a vent without making a sound? One of the easiest things I have ever had to do. A small plan jumped into my mind, and I started to charge a small Slash Dash after a few seconds I was ready and moved to the side of the two guards, when they both turned and realized I was there they raised their guns and I released my Slash dash. Now the way a Slash Dash works? You build up a small amount of energy in your legs and feet, and release it too propel yourself forward at high speed, utilizing a bladed weapon to cut anything directly in front of you, or to the left or right of you. In my case I needed to cut the two guards on my left, so I simply held my Nikana to the left of me and let the released energy propel myself forward and propel my Nikana through the two unfortunate victims. The dear councilor was sitting with his mouth agape; I'll bet a few credits that he hasn't seen anything like that before.

"Who *Cough* Who are you?"

Turning towards the councilor I turned on the voice distorter in my helmet, this little addition was added to the Tenno when we first started making deals with Corpus, though most "deals" ended in us killing them and taking whatever we were sent to "buy" from them, but the distorter was designed so that one Tenno could never be distinguished from their voice.

"**That does not concern you Councilor, all you need to know is that I am here to bring you out alive. Stay here until I or C-Sec comes to get you**"

I opened the door to the room and stepped out, closing and locking it behind me so the Councilor wouldn't get any stupid ideas about escaping on his own. Making my way down the stairs I come by two more Blue Suns guarding the entrance to the upper floor, neither got to react before their heads and bodies were separated. _'Two on the top floor, and two down here, that leaves sixteen more Blue Suns in the warehouse'_ Making my way down another corridor I came to a door, standing in front of it I focused on the room beyond, I felt sixteen distinct signatures, too many for me to tell who was what race, but I felt all three present, Batarian, Turian and Human.

"Garrus"

"_Finally! What the hell is going on in there?"_

"The councilor is safe on the upper floor, there is only the sixteen inside the warehouse itself, the office part has been cleared, tell C-Sec to come in firing once they see a bright light"

"_Bright Light?"_

"Trust me, you'll know"

I closed the com and made my way inside the big storage area of the warehouse, hiding behind a few crates it was easy to make out their composition, about four guys close to the doors, then a group of six and another group of six, a simple setup without any major strategic plan in mind. _'Sneak along the side, enter in the middle and gather their focus on me, fire a Radial Blind, in the chaos kill the six in the back and then escape through my point of entry, leave the rest to C-Sec'_

"Garrus, is C-Sec ready to breach?"

"_Yeah they just finished setting the charges, whatever you are going to do, do it fast"_

I didn't need more incentive, sneaking along the wall was easy enough, the Blue Suns are not known for their detection skills. Reaching the point where I had the fastest route to the middle I breathed in three times and stormed forward, the six at the back saw me instantly and started firing, which then brought the attention of the remaining ten, when I knew that at least twelve of them looked at me and raised my sword in the air and released the built up radial blind, which depleted my power cells down to 5% _'More than enough for this'_ under the guise of the blinding light I heard the explosion go off and C-Sec started their breach, I stormed to the back and went for the first visible enemy, that being a turian I cut off his legs and used the momentum to spin around while going forward, allowing me to take off the head of the human or batarian next to him, keeping my sword in motion I brought it over my head and slashed downward, removing the arm of another human/batarian, with the helmets it really wasn't to tell. This left three more enemies standing, lucky for me two of them were shoulder to shoulder, allowing me to pierce Nikana through both of their middle sections, from what I felt I snapped the spine of the one in the back and ruptured the stomach of the first one, the final one had started firing at me after regaining his senses, before I could even act on the gunfire his head exploded, moving past the corpse towards the upper floor I could almost hear Garrus _"Scoped and Dropped!"_. Getting up to the councilor I didn't stop moving towards my exit while I spoke.

"**C-Sec will be here in a second Councilor, you are safe now**"

And up the vent I went. When I finally got back out and landed on the ground I was met with twenty pairs of weapons pointing in my direction.

"Stop! Drop your weapon!"

I placed Nikana back on my hip and put up my hands, the first C-Sec agent who came over and tried to put me in cuffs I recognized, the Turian with the black clan markings. When he was close enough and reached out with his hand I grabbed a hold of it and turned him around, putting his head in a lock that easily allowed me to snap his neck.

"**Are we really doing this again**?" I looked over the crowd and found his partner "**Hey you! You know how this goes, get these idiots to stand down or you are one partner short!**"

I could see the realization in his eyes when I spoke, and just before he had a chance to retort, a voice rang out through all the C-Sec units.

"Lower your weapons! This man helped save the Councilor"

It was Pallin, apparently the Turian councilor had been quick to point out that I not be captured, simply brought to the council chambers so he could speak with me. Everyone did lower their guns, but I didn't release my hold on my turian hostage, looking down I could see that this time the fear in his eyes was more evident that when I was holding him at swords length, his partner walked towards me slowly.

"We lowered our guns, now release him!"

"**Funny. You seem to think you are in a position to give orders, one wrong move from anyone here and I crack this one's neck. You want him safe? Bring a Sky car around driven by Garrus Vakarian, if I am going to the Council chambers it's with someone I trust, however miniscule that trust is**"

A few eyes shot up when I mentioned Garrus name, but I figured that would be the case, a man who just killed nine Black Suns on his own suddenly ask for Garrus Vakarian? A Turian known for breaking the rules to get the job done. After a few seconds most everyone backs off, looking down on the Turian in my grip he seems a little too relaxed.

"**You do realize I will kill you the second I smell something funny right?**"

The Turian started shaking wildly, no one was within hearing range of us, and the Turians even with their advanced hearing would only be able to hear whispers.

"**What is your name?**"

I looked down at him and saw he was looking at me with confusion in his eyes.

"M-Mettik"

"**Mettik… interesting name, and your mate?**"

"Aralak"

"**Hmm. Been together long?**"

The more I spoke the more confused he got.

"Why are you asking me all of this?"

"**Because Pallin is stalling with the Sky Car until he realizes that there is no alternative, so I am simply making conversation and since this is the second time I have your life in my hands I figured I should know the man I could potentially be killing**"

The statement was accompanied by a shrug that lifted Mettik up along with my shoulders.

"We've been together almost ten years now"

"**Admirable. Met at C-Sec?**"

"Yeah, started on the same day and we just kind of stuck together"

"**I see, and as far as I remember in Turian culture there is nothing wrong with two males being together am I correct?**"

"Yeah"

"**Family?**"

I saw his features soften as he looked over at his very scared and confused mate.

"**A little girl, we took her in a few years ago**"

I don't know what it was, but something inside me spread across my entire body and my own memories went back to Sivra and the life we once planned on building together… after a few seconds I pushed Mettik towards his mate, as soon as he had regained his footing Aralak was holding him in a tight embrace, a few seconds later they broke apart and Mettik turned towards me, a questioning look on his face.

"**I will not rob a child of her parent**"

Mettik looked like he wanted to say something, but he got interrupted by the arrival of a C-Sec Sky Car _'C-Sec patrol car, of course…'_ stepping over to the car I waited for the door to open, when it did I was somewhat relieved that it was actually Garrus behind the wheel. He made a gesture for me to get in and I complied, after a few seconds we set off and where one our way.

"What the hell are you?"

I disengaged my helmet and looked over at Garrus.

"You have to be a bit more specific Garrus"

Garrus growled and looked at me with a slight bit of anger in his eyes.

"I mean how one guy took down nine Blue Suns **alone** with only a sword?! And what the hell was that flash bang you set off in there?! If I hadn't used a special scope I would have been blinded!"

Staring straight ahead I shrugged.

"Thanks for that last shot by the way" Garrus grunted in reply "As for what I am? I think it is quite clear what I am **not**" Garrus eyes widened as he looked at me.

"You are not Human are you?"

I shook my head.

"Only part of me is, I trust this information will stay between us? For now I believe it is better for everyone if they either don't know what I am, or just think I am human"

Garrus nodded silently, he seemed to be turning the information. After a good ten minutes of silent flying we arrived at some big complex close to the Citadel tower, I figured this was where I would be meeting with the Council. As we landed I looked out the windows and saw plenty of guards and security, something doesn't seem right. As Garrus was about to open the door I grabbed his shoulder.

"Garrus, when you get back to C-Sec start investigating this a little deeper, something is not right. Kidnapping a Councilor? That is a job for way more than 20 Blue Suns, someone had to have been pulling the strings, and also may I suggest putting a shadow guard on the councilors?"

Garrus was silent as he only nodded, realizing that we shouldn't be speaking for too long. As we both stepped out a few of the guards escorted me inside a rather extravagant room, from the looks of it I would suspect this is where the council entertains their more important guests, like the leaders of each race. A few minutes following my own arrival the door opened once more, and in stepped the three members of the council whom could very well be dead in a few months, or moments depending on how they behave. Sparatus was the first to react, he walked forward and put his hand forward for me to shake, I stared at his hand for a few seconds before turning on my distorter and shaking his hand.

"And here he is! The one I have to thank for my safety that was a brave thing you did back there"

I glanced over at the two other council members who were slowly approaching as well.

"**It was nothing Councilor; I merely lend my aid to C-Sec whom did most of the work**"

The Asari Councilor Tevos was next to speak

"It may have been so, but from what Sparatus have told us then you were to thank for his original rescue, and C-Sec merely secured him?"

"**That is true, but do not be so quick to discredit C-Sec, without their presence I would not have been able to sneak into the warehouse like I did**"

Looking over at the Salarian Councilor it was quite obvious that the more I spoke, the madder he would get, and from where I was standing it looked very much like he was ready to explode at a moment's notice, when he finally looked in my direction and saw my head turned towards him he apparently had enough.

"Enough of this! What is with your voice? Why do you hide it from us? Also I highly doubt you saved Sparatus out of the good of your heart, it is quite obvious you are neither Turian, Asari or Salarian so that begs to question as to why you would help one of us, because from your structure all that is left is Batarian or Human and neither would be the first to help any one of us"

Both Sparatus and Tevos looked at their colleague with a bit of anger, and a stare that almost screamed _"Watch what you say"_ I personally didn't care much, the Salarian Councilor has always been the suspicious type.

"**That is none of your business Councilor. As for my race? What does it matter, I chose to help and that will not change however much you distrust my kind**" I turned around and started walking towards the door when Sparatus spoke up.

"Wait, there must be something I can do to repay you for saving my life?"

As the door in front of me opened I turned around and looked Sparatus in the eyes.

"**You owe me one**"

And out the door I went; back out to the Sky car and Garrus, whom took me home to my apartment.

**5 Months until Eden Prime**

Three months has passed since the events with the Blue Suns, and thanks to the quick thinking of Garrus my location remains a secret he managed this by coming up with the quick lie that he "dropped me off somewhere seemingly random in the Presidium. I have also begun paying rent, a simple thing really when I stole every last credit that the original tenants had on them if I don't spend any credits at all besides paying rent, and I have enough food rations in my ship to last me until everything takes off. But these past two months have been strange, I am being followed but the method is strange. It is never the same person, but their search grid is still the same from what I have been able to gather with my own investigation these people have been trying to find my apartment, but they always report back after following me for four hours and then there is a ten minute window for me to return home before the next person starts tailing me. Last week I managed to follow one of my stalkers back to whoever it was he reports to after the four hours are up, to my surprise the person he reported back to turned out to be none other than Miss Miranda Lawson herself, truth be told I was close to flying off to Cerberus HQ and rip the head of The Illusive Man when I found out but I figured that would produce a little problem in the future when we needed Shepard resurrected. _'The great joy of knowing everything, meaning I also know what can go wrong…' _I let my mind wander far and wide for a few hours before I came to a reasonable conclusion, a message to dear old TIM would serve both to get him off my back but it could also potentially give me an enemy I really don't need right now, but I can't keep going around with Cerberus spying on me.

I started following more agents back to Miranda until I was comfortable that I could evade them and follow Miranda at the same time. It took a few weeks but eventually I found out where Miranda stays, another high end apartment complex a few minutes away from me in the Presidium. She lives in the pent house unsurprisingly, but she doesn't have any security around the place, and from what the landlord told me (He was very helpful…) she never gets visitors but also only shows up once a week _'So even the "great" Miranda Lawson needs a day off…'_. The following Friday I followed her wearing the Alpha-Frame, my plan is simple enough I am going to sneak in while in Loki mode and simply take the elevator along with her, the door won't close before I make my way inside. Unsurprisingly it went just as I had expected, I followed her into her apartment in cloak and went inside the elevator with her. _'Her ability to detect others is severely lacking'_ as we arrived in the pent house I walked into the living room and looked around, the place was most likely filled with bugs and cameras, they needed to be taken care of. A minor EMP should function just fine, I created the minor blast by simply releasing raw energy from my Warframe, I knew it had all worked when most of the electricity in the apartment (which meant just about everything) sparked for a few seconds and died. I switched my Warframe back to neutral while I was waiting, and during the transformation I heard footsteps behind me, signaling the arrival of Miranda.

"**Miss Lawson, I hope you do not mind I let myself in**"

I must admit she was remarkably quick to put on a very businesslike face, and the smile on her face clearly indicated that she expected me to be standing here one day.

"Not at all, we have been looking for you for a while in fact; you are incredibly good at hiding your location"

"**Yes I am aware, your agents were getting quite disturbing and may I suggest you pull them all after today? If not then you will have to start explaining to The Illusive Man why you are sending so many body bags back to your headquarters**"

Her face faulted when I spoke of TIM, she is a woman who prides herself in secrecy, so someone figuring out who she works for was probably not on the top ten things he thought anyone would ever find out.

"You know of my employer? Good, that will speed up the process, I am here to follow on the confirmation of the rumors of you being human, my boss would like to offer you a job he has a very generous offer in mind, one that only requires us to look over your armor and then get a blood sample from you, and the pay is good, very good"

She spoke with conviction and a spring in her voice that indicted that she really believed what TIM was telling her, I of course know better and have nothing but disdain for the man.

"**Tempting Miss Lawson, but I don't work for terrorist; also would you kindly open up a holo communication with your boss? I too wish to speak with him**"

"The only way that is going to happen is…"

"**Is with Orianna's corpse hanging inside your private quarters?**"

A little morbid I will agree, but sadly Orianna is the only thing that at this time could potentially get Miranda to do what I want, and the effect is instantaneous. All color drained from her cheeks and slowly I saw the fear in her eyes start to spread, and then before I knew it she had drawn her pistol and fired… big mistake when she kept firing and the damn thing overheated. When she was finally done I crossed my arms over my chest.

"**Miss Lawson… Are you sure that is the smartest path of action? I must assume the rumors about me being human started after the Blue Suns incident?**" She nodded "**Then you are aware of what I am capable off, that aside you now know that I at least know that Orianna exists, and as such most likely I also know her location and you still think it is a good idea to discharge a weapon at me?**"

It is quite odd how three hundred plus years can make it so easy to be a cold blooded bastard. Miranda simply started shaking and looked at her weapon realizing it was no longer overheated she pointed the gun at me once more but hesitated, she seemed to be thinking it through for once. After a few minutes of me standing with my arms crossed and Miranda trying to figure out whatever to try and shoot me again or not, she finally spoke.

"You promise that if I let you talk to The Illusive Man you won't hurt Orianna?"

I nodded and she gestured for me to follow her. We went into a little room that had the same kind of table that is on the SR2, Miranda turned it on and stepped up and waited for the call to be received, when I heard a voice ring out through the room.

"_Miranda, don't you usually take this night off?"_

Before she could answer I planted a strike at the back of her neck which caused her to black out, I dragged her out and placed her next to the table and then stepped inside the holo communicator myself. When I finally got my first look at TIM I must say I was impressed, the man radiates and aura that demands respect, too bad for him that I don't have any to give.

"_I see… You must be the one we have been tracking, am I correct?"_

"**Your assumption is correct Mr. Harper**"

Now Mr. Jack Harper is notorious for never showing any emotion, but as soon as I used his last name his face faulted, it turned into a very interesting grimace, as if I had sprouted the biggest secret in human history.

"_How do you know that name?"_

"**My knowledge extends to a great many thing Mr. Harper. As for the reason I wanted this call, I simply wish to present a deal to you. From now on you will stay out of my business and in turn I will stay out of yours, does that sound agreeable?**"

He fell into silence as he kept drawing on his cigarette; he seemed to be in very deep thought. _'I hope he doesn't do something stupid, I don't have the time to go deal with him'_

"_I assume this means that you wish for me to withdraw my agents?" _I nodded_ "And for as long as we do not interfere with anything that you might be doing, you will then not interfere with any Cerberus projects you happen to come along?"_

"**Not completely Mr. Harper**" I saw his eyebrow twitch for the shortest of moments "**I will leave any Cerberus projects alone that will not interfere with my current mission, should one of these projects interfere with my mission I will however take it down**"

He went back to thinking, probably trying to find a way to get me to work for him. I was getting slightly impatient with the man after standing for a good minute or so _'There is a limit to your thinking…'_. When he finally looked ready to speak I almost cracked a smile.

"_This is not the outcome I expected, but I guess this is the best I will get from you"_

"**No Mr. Harper it is not. The best you have gotten from me is your life, I have already had plenty of opportunities to kill you but have refrained from such, and you will play an important role in my future plans Mr. Harper so I will see you live until then. Your final words Jack?**"

When I finally used his real name his demeanor changed completely, where he before had been sitting in his chair emitting this aura of respect, he now stood up and dropped his cigarette to the floor, anger clear in his eyes.

"_I don't take threats lightly, remember that"_

He disconnected the call. Looking down in Miranda I felt a small sense of guilt, she isn't that bad of a person really, she just needs to get her head on straight in regards to Cerberus. I bend down and lifted her up in my arms and carried her into the bedroom (after I found it) and placed her on her bed, I found some paper and a writing utensil in her apartment and left a note.

_Orianna's location is safe with me.  
Don't trust anyone when you need to move her, not even Niket.  
Only move her yourself._

_-Echo_

I walked out of the apartment the same way I came in, this time I didn't bother with the cloak since there was no need. _'Hopefully that note will keep Orianna safe'_ as I finally reached my home I went inside and got to bed _'I made a powerful enemy today…'_. That night was one of the few where I wasn't plagued by nightmares.

**1 Month until Eden Prime**

Two months have passed since my encounter with TIM, and he has been trying to prove his point of "_I don't take threats lightly_" by sending more agents to follow me but that seized about one week ago, when he finally got the message. All it took was eight of his agents to die, and a few warnings left carved into their corpses. But TIM is low on my list for now this is mostly due to one particular presence I was feeling constantly of late, it is the same presence I used to feel back in the other dimension, the feeling I would get when The Stalker was close by and when I felt that feeling for the first time I froze in place and nearly killed everyone in my near vicinity to find him, but I cooled down after a while and eventually put that idea in the back of my mind, but I kept feeling the presence and I kept looking out for it but nothing was ever there.

Today I had decided to calm my mind with a walk around the Presidium, most people would look a little oddly after me because of Nikana, but most everyone else just ignored me like I was another part of their daily lives. Passing over the bridge that was between the C-Sec elevator and towards the Consort Chambers I actually entertained the thought of going inside and getting an appointment, but knowing her fairly long waiting list and my own lack of will to sleep with an Asari I chose to move on and continued toward the shops. When I finally passed most of the various shops that was in the Presidium I eventually found myself in front of a familiar door _'The shop of Barla Von, agent of the Shadow Broker… I don't really need to deal with him yet, but it couldn't hurt to inform him that he cannot hide from me either'_ with that in mind I stepped inside the shop which turned out to be rather plain, there was a desk with Barla Von behind it and a file cabinet behind him, that was it. When I approached Barla Von he looked up and even though I couldn't see his face I knew he was smiling.

"Ah Mr. Echo! *Wheeze* How splendid to finally *Wheeze* see you in my shop!"

The little guy was wheezing more so than usual perhaps because he was exited or perhaps it was something else.

"Mr. Von I assume from your enthusiastic greeting that your employer has already heard of me?"

"Yes indeed *Wheeze* he has been wishing to give you a formal message *Wheeze* for a while now, I must say I am grateful that *Wheeze* you arrived when you did"

"I see. I assume I have not acquired your employer's ire just yet?"

"My of course not Mr. Echo *Wheeze* your small scuffle with the Blue Suns and Cerberus *Wheeze* my employer on the other hand thanks you! *Wheeze* He has acquired good business since your endeavors with both organizations *Wheeze* But this leads me to the first part of the message which is a request *Wheeze* for information regarding yourself and the armor you wear"

'_The Shadow Broker wishes to know about me and my armor, unsurprising'_

"My apologies Mr. Von but that information is classified and will not be shared with anyone"

"Ahh… and from your personality I must assume *Wheeze* that no amount of credits will change your mind?" I shook my head "A shame really but in that case, my employer then simply wishes to extend his greetings *Wheeze* and hope that you will consider him for your future information needs"

"Well Mr. Von, you can pass a message along to your employer for me then." He nodded "Good, the message is simple it is but a sentence and a word. The sentence is "_I know_" and the word is "_Yahg_" and that will be all for now Mr. Von have a pleasant day"

"You as well *Wheeze* Mr. Echo"

I walked out the office with the knowledge that I just potentially made the worst enemy one could make or perhaps the greatest ally, at least until he is killed and replaced by Liara.

* * *

I spent the remainder of the day walking around the Presidium, taking in the various sights and simply enjoying the lively feeling that was present, lord knows it will be gone in a few months' time. As I passed by a row of shops a smell stopped me dead in my tracks as I inhaled the scent a memory danced across my eyes.

==Memory/Flashback?==

It was dark and the only light I could see in the sky was the fireworks on my left stood two older men; one was only three years ahead of me, while the other was thirty years ahead of me. We all stood in silence and watched the fireworks light up the sky in all manner of colors and shapes, the older one of the two men, my father, was standing with a cigar in his hand and the smell of it had spread across the whole balcony I enjoyed the smell, it was only once a year my father would smoke a cigar and it was on new year's eve, he always claimed that he wouldn't end one year without smoking one and so far he had held on to that tradition. My father passed the cigar to his right into the hands of my older brother who took a few draws and exhaled a smoke ring, my father and I laughed at his antics while he proceeded to hand the cigar to me, I didn't smoke nor would I ever start but I had taken to enjoying the one cigar a year alongside my father and brother, when I took my first draw I inhaled by mistake and started coughing violently, my father and brother laughed while my brother slapped my back to help with the coughing and once I could breathe again I joined them in their laughter.

==Memory/Flashback? End==

The memory was a pleasant one, one of the few memories I have that still make me smile. I glanced into the store a few times before agreeing with myself that it was a tradition that was long overdue to be revived, as I entered the shop I saw that the sole worker of the shop was an elderly man with a full with beard and a pair of half glasses, he was reading a book while drinking what smelled like extremely strong coffee. As I approached the man he looked up at me with eyes that matched his age.

"Can I help you Sir?"

I smiled slightly

"Yes I think you can, I need a small case of cigars, around twenty should suffice for now though I must admit I have no knowledge on the subject so an expert's opinion would be most welcome, and thank you sir"

The elderly gentleman stared me up and down before nodding sagely a few times.

"Ever smoked a cigar before?"

"Five if my count is right"

"I see… strong lungs?" I nodded with a small smile "Very well, then I think I have just the thing"

He moved out back and returned a few minutes later with a small box and opened it up, revealing twenty cigars neatly packed together.

"Here you go sir. Mild with a bit of an after taste, also all the necessary things needed"

I nodded and took the box and looked it over, at the bottom a word was etched into it, it was very old so I couldn't make out the word, and glancing up at the elderly man he saw what I was looking at

"Care to know what it says?" I nodded "It's a family name, you see that box is especially old it was made in 2015 by a young man after he too started smoking cigars, his name was "Kim *********""

I gently put the box down on the table and stared at it, my mind was racing along with my heart if my tears hadn't dried up many decades ago they would surely have fallen now, that name… that was my older brothers name. My mind refused to believe it and I looked at the elderly man with great confusion

"W-Why do you have it then sir?"

A warm smile spread across the elderly man's features as reached over and patted me a few times on the shoulder.

"Well it's a family heirloom, I am the last decedent of Kim *********"

"Why would you sell me your family's heirloom?"

The elderly man laughed and looked me over once more

"Because I have no children to pass this on too, and I feel like it belongs with you so make an old man happy and use it well?"

I took the box in my hands once more and nodded silently; the elderly man accepted my payment and sent me off on my way, but before I exited the shop I turned around

"If it is not too much sir, what is your name?"

The elderly man laughed again

"I was named Kim after the one who made the box"

I smiled warmly at him and nodded once before exiting the store. It took me a while longer than usual to make it home, since I walked much slower than usual. When I finally got inside my home I put the box down and took out one cigar, I prepared it and lit it up, drawing a few times before exhaling the smoke and tasting the cigar I remembered the taste from New Year's Eve 2012, the last cigar I ever shared with my father and brother.

**Day of Eden Prime**

Funny the way patience works, or at least the way mine works. Today it was exactly ten months to the day sine I arrived in the Mass Effect world, and Eden Prime still hadn't occurred. I was walking down the Presidium Plaza trying to clear my head when I noticed a large gathering of people standing next to one of the huge holo news screens, I stepped up behind them and looked at the latest news something interesting must obviously have happened since the news bothered to report it, however what I read send me running at full speed the headline had read _"EDEN PRIME ATTACKED!"_ that however did not send me into gear, what the anchorwoman said next did _"Also a firefight seems to be ongoing down in the wards at the club known as Chora's Den"_ that had sent me running. I leapt into my ship and almost threw on my Alpha-Frame and grabbed my Nikana and ran out the door once again.

I made my way down a lot of side passages that connected the Wards to the Presidium if one knew which passages to take. When I finally came around the parts of the Wards I needed to be in I turned a corner only to be met with a problematic sight, Tali was standing and talking with the Turian hired by Saren and looking across the ally I saw Shepard and her crew come around the corner. I don't know who saw who first, but I reacted first by drawing my Nikana and using a basic foot technique to speed down the ramp and meet the Turian with a decapitating slash, on my way down I heard Shepard shout a few orders to her team. After the Turian had lost his head I turned around and met one of the salarians with the hilt of my blade knocking him down, looking up to the side I saw Garrus ready a shot so rather than bother with the last salarian still standing I turned to the one I knocked down, I brought my sword up and swung it back down with equal speed and took of the head of the salarian, when I turned to the last one I just managed to catch his head exploding from a well-placed sniper shot. As all three of the would be attackers lie dead at my feet I saw Shepard and her team slowly approaching me, when Shepard came into proper view I was surprised I was expecting the classic red hair and green eyes with a slight pale skin, instead I was met by a tan skinned woman with jet black hair tied up in a ponytail, her eyes however remained a deep green which held that piercing gaze. As they all approached I closed my eyes and focused, I wanted to check if there was anyone hiding nearby but what I felt made my eyes fly open and before anyone could speak or react I brought my blade up to Tali's neck .

"**One wrong move and the Quarian dies**"

**A/N: MUHAHAHA CLIFFHANGER! Chapter 4 will be up as soon as possible, I ran into some difficulties so I can only upload 1-3 sorry. Well for this chapter I am sure some of you have guessed that "total rewrite" isn't completely true, I have changed some events and added some new ones and removed a few others, but that is the way most of the story will go for now, you will be reading a lot of the same just in a different setting and with different outcomes, which I guess does mean you are technically reading something new…**


	4. Chapter 4

'_Good going Echo, lets scar a poor girl for life and reduce the amount of trust she will ever have in you to zero'_ glancing over at Shepard and co. it's easy to see how angry each of them are, well all except Wrex but he doesn't count. By count there are two assault rifles, one pistol, one shotgun and one sniper rifle pointed directly at my head. But in this situation I had to create a scenario where I held a bargaining chip, when I previously focused to look for any possible survivors or perhaps just someone who was spying I caught something. I felt **five** different forms of presence and that just couldn't be right, Wrex is a Krogan that is one presence, Tali is a Quarian and that makes two, with Garrus we got three and then there is Ashley, Kaidan and Shepard whom is human, that is four different species meaning I should be feeling four forms of presence, closing my eyes once more I bring all my focus on the last presence. My eyes shoot open and I almost stumble backwards, when I focused on the last presence it manifested itself in my mind as a giant pillar of light, the only problem? That pillar of light was standing directly on top of Shepard meaning that somehow Shepard isn't completely human. Staring at her I try to find anything that would be pointing to a non-human origin or alteration but I see nothing.

"I won't ask again, lower that weapon!"

Looking over the rest I can see that all of them are ready to shoot but as my eyes land on Garrus I can clearly see it on him "_confusion_", poor guy is probably wondering why I would even attempt something like this after saving a counselor.

"**My apologies Commander Shepard, but that will certainly not be happening. Your own weapons however would do much more for this conversation if they were placed on your backs, if one bullet gets fired then this Quarian will no longer have a head and you will lose your chance to get Saren**"

Glancing over at Tali I can see she is trying to move away from the blade ever so slowly, I press the blade a little closer to her neck.

"**Not the best of ideas Tali, your suit is especially weak around the neck**"

She stopped moving instantly, I feel terrible for doing this but there is no helping it. A small sound inside my helmet alerts me that a call is incoming _'Who the hell…?'_ answering the call I notice some movement in the corner of my vision, Garrus mouth is moving.

"_What the hell are you doing?!"_

He is whispering so the others won't hear him, but given that Shepard is looking ready to kill me I don't think he has to be worried about that. I turn off the sound from my helmet before answering.

"Garrus listen closely" I see his eyes open as he looks straight at me before nodding "Good, one I am done talking I am going to start talking to Shepard, once I mention you jump into the conversation and follow my lead"

Garrus nods before setting his eye back down to his scope. Glancing over Shepard and the crew one more time I take in everyone's positions, should it come down to a firefight I can take them down with relative ease as long as I don't go for Wrex.

"**It seems we find ourselves in a bit of a stand still Commander. What do you say to putting down our weapons and talking this over like rational individuals?**"

The surprise in Shepards face is evident; she looks to be contemplating my idea when Ashley decides to voice her opinion that it is a bad idea.

"Don't trust him Commander, I know his type they won't lay down their weapons unless it's to grab a knife and stab you in the back"

I feel a small tick in the back of my mind _'How many decades has it been since the last time I felt annoyed?'_ glancing at Shepard I can see that she is ready to order them to fire rather then put down their weapons, so I act first. I remove my blade from Tali's throat and twirl it around two times before putting it back in its scabbard and looking over at Ashley.

"**There we go Miss Williams; I have put away my weapon.**"

The look on her face is priceless. Not two seconds later did Tali bolt over to Shepard and ran behind the group for protection. When Shepard had ensured that Tali were okay and that I hadn't accidently ruptured her suit _'Like I would make a mistake like that…'_, as she turned around towards me and put her weapon away she took a few steps towards me.

"Let's try this one more time. Who are you and why did you "Save" the Quarian?"

I took a few steps forward to meet her and put my hand forward for her to shake, she simply looks at it before staring at my face with a look that practically yells _"are you stupid?"_

"**I can assure you Commander that I wish for nothing more but to shake your hand, and I will answer none of your questions until you manage a proper greeting**"

She looked deeply offended that I would even dare to request that hand shake, but she grabs my hand and shakes it twice before letting go and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Now answer my question"

"**I saved the Quarian because she has information I need. I held her hostage because I would not risk you getting the information first and potentially getting to Saren before me**" Shepard raised her eyebrow before waving her hand outwards in a "and…?" gesture. "**And you can call me Echo if you need to call me anything**"

Nodding at me she actually breaks the smallest of smiles, but it disappears as soon as it arrived.

"What do you want with Saren?"

"**I am sorry Commander, but I do not trust you enough to disclose that information**"

I almost glared at Garrus from the inside of my helmet once I finished that sentence, hoping that he would get my drift. He perked up after a few seconds and put his sniper away before stepping down next to Shepard.

"Would you trust me with that information Echo?"

I was smiling inside my helmet, it seems Garrus understood what I wanted from him but Shepard on the other hand looked confused beyond all measure.

"You know him Garrus?"

I let out a low chuckle that thanks to the filter in the helmet sounded more like an evil maniac's chuckle rather than a sincere one.

"**Mr. Vakarian and I**" Garrus sent a glare my way for using his last name again "**My apologies, Garrus and I worked together some months ago when the Turian councilor was kidnapped**"

This made Garrus smile and give me an appreciative nod for using his name, but it sent Shepard into an even more confused state as she looked back and forth between me and Garrus, trying to figure out which one of us to ask the next question.

"Can we trust him?"

The question apparently ended up with Garrus.

"Just don't let him out of your sight Shepard, besides that I wouldn't mind having him watch my back"

"**And since Garrus here seems to trust you Commander I shall as well. I am after Saren Arterius due to his recent attack on Eden Prime, if I am correct that is also your reason for chasing him?**"

Shepard nodded but her stern gaze never left me.

"What is your interest in the attack on Eden Prime? You are not Alliance and my best guess would be that you aren't human either"

Garrus looked at me with a questioning gaze; I had told him back then that I wished for that fact to be kept secret between us.

"**I have no actual interest in the attack on the colony itself**" this drew a killing glare from Ashley "**I only have interest in the ship he attacked with**"

Shepard seemed to turn the information for a few seconds before nodding silently to herself.

"Wait here, I need to make a call"

She stepped away and left me with Garrus

"What is your angle on this Echo?"

Knowing the others were out of earshot I disabled my distorter.

"I can't tell you everything yet Garrus, but for now just know that there is something much bigger than Saren out there and I need Shepards help to fight it"

Garrus nodded solemnly before turning to his side where a shaking Tali was making her way towards us, I enabled my distorter as she got within hearing range.

"I don't know whatever to thank you for saving me or shoot you for holding me hostage"

I must admit that caught me a bit by surprise, I had expected her to react quite a bit differently than that but first things first. Sitting down in Seiza I bowed deeply in front of Tali.

"**I must offer my deepest apologies Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, what I did was without honor but I couldn't risk the information you have slipping from my grasp**"

If I was able to see Tali's face I am quite sure it would be one of surprise, Garrus certainly looked surprised. Shepard chose this time to return to us and she looked as confused as everyone else. Tali knelt in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder, I could hear the smile in her voice.

"You would never have killed me, would you?"

I shook my head

"**No, I will not kill innocent people and certainly not someone so young**"

"You knew this all along Garrus?"

Shepard had turned towards Garrus and was giving him a very familiar stare, that stare appears in the games a few too many times and now Garrus is facing it for the first time. He started scratching the back of his head and tried to look everywhere else but at Shepard.

"Well… perhaps? After all he did let a C-Sec officer go despite that meaning he lost his bargaining chip, so I figured he was doing it again?"

Shepard grunted once and nodded before turning her glare on me, now had I not lived for over three hundred years I think I might actually have taken a step back when she looked at me.

"I called some of the higher ups, they want to meet you and hear any information you have on Saren's ship"

"**I see… where are we meeting Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson?**"

Shepard looked ready to pull her gun on me once more when I said that, _'I wonder for how long I can keep this up before I have to tell her everything, or get myself shot'_ I stood for a few seconds waiting for Shepard to decide what to do, I grew bored of waiting.

"**Your higher ups can only be so many people Shepard, in terms of Military it is most likely a Captain or an Admiral and since the attack was on a colony and you are here to seek assistance from the council that makes it a political matter as well, thus we have the resident idiot also called Ambassador Udina. As for how I knew it was Anderson? You flew in on the Normandy which is currently under the command of Captain Anderson**"

As the words leave my mouth it clicks in my brain, this is a game… or at least it used to be one. Here I am standing alongside a group of individuals that I once looked at through a screen and nothing more, and the events that are going to take place are all inside my mind. I could list of each and every one of these individuals in front of me and give you a full rundown of who they are, yet I can't be sure that that is truly who they are anymore. A wave of what best be described as a mix of nausea and extreme anger washes over my entire being, in a span of perhaps five seconds I have gone from wishing my stomach was no longer a part of my body to wanting to kill the next person who even looks at me funny. I take a few quick glances around the group once more, Wrex is looking bored as all hell and seems more like he wishes to be asleep then standing around here, Ashley looks pissed which is likely from my comment about not caring about the attack on the colony, Kaidan is tapping away at his omni-tool probably trying to find some information about either me or something related to Saren, both Garrus and Tali is talking with Shepard about something. Leaning my head back I retreat into my head to think things over, this is something I have taken up in the past few years; call it a coping mechanism for killing thousands of people.

'_After three hundred years I have moved on to somewhere new… now I stand in a dirty alley with six living legends, how would I not have reacted all those years ago had I come here first? I can almost see myself stepping out into the world of Mass Effect green as grass and with no sense of purpose. I would have been dead within the day'_

I couldn't tell whatever I had been standing there for five minutes or five hours, once I go into my head I lose almost all perception of time and often I would rely on someone close by to wake me back up, this time around that wake up consisted of Shepard first snapping her fingers in front of my face, which did wake me up mind you, and following since I didn't react she thought it feasible to try and wake me with a punch. I must admit I did look over her when she moved into the punch, she has a solid stance and good form, had I been just about any other person that punch would surely have connected simply due to the speed and precision that the strike held, however when the punch came close enough I simply lifted my arm and moved the incoming fist away with my forearm sending Shepard tumbling behind me.

"**Firm stance and good form Shepard but next time, do check that I am awake before you attempt to strike me**"

I could hear Wrex's roaring laughter coming from behind us, but at the same time the unmistakable sound of two weapons being drawn were also present, I'll give you two guesses two whom drew their weapons. I didn't even bother to turn around to look at the two paranoid humans, rather I just extended my hand to Shepard to help her back up, I was slightly surprised when she reached over and grabbed it without restraint.

"Well… you didn't react when we spoke to you, so I figured I needed to do something to wake you"

"**Indeed? Perhaps next time you could try tapping my shoulder instead?**"

She gave me a grin while nodding thanks for the helping hand.

"Where is the fun in that?"

I had to shake my head at that, never before have I met someone like that even the most unserious tricksters among the Tenno wouldn't dare to attempt punching someone awake.

"**Well in the future I would appreciate that your "fun" came in a different form then attempting to strike me**"

Shepard gave a low chuckle and patted me a few times on the shoulder.

"I'll think about it. Now let's get going Udina isn't known for his patience"

As everyone fell in behind Shepard I decide to walk up next to Garrus, for some company if for nothing else. The walk from the wards to the presidium is a somewhat short one, however from our location in the wards to the embassies without shuttle? Pretty long. It's funny how a rather long walk can give you time to look at things you didn't bother seeing before, for myself that meant I was now finally witnessing the Citadel rather than simply moving around in it. I see families mostly everywhere we go, parents whom are happily walking with their children whom a smiling and laughing while simply being alive… a shame it will all come crashing down in a few months. I felt someone grab my shoulder and when I turned it was Garrus, he was purposely slowing us down so we came out of earshot of the others.

"You were right" I turned my head towards his and looked at him "About the Blue Suns, something didn't add up"

"I see… go on"

I saw Garrus hands tighten and even heard a small snarl coming from him

"They weren't Blue Suns"

This time it was me who stopped us, I had to be a hundred percent sure that the others couldn't hear us.

"Elaborate"

We started walking again but our pace was so slow that we only barely held up with the rest.

"When we looked through the warehouse we found nothing but when I duck a little deeper I found something, a salarian weapons and armor manufacturer down in the wards called Treck was commissioned for twenty-five pieces of armor bearing Blue Suns colors. Get this, he was paid the entire amount on an untraceable credit chit and the person who paid him was a human"

I feel into silence as we walked, something didn't seem right about this. _'Why go through all the trouble to kidnap a counselor and then take him to what was a relatively unsecure warehouse?'_ we kept walking while I kept pondering and the Embassies were getting closer by the minute.

"What about the kidnapping itself? How was that done?"

"That's the thing that took us by surprise" My eyebrows went up at this, I figured an abduction wasn't a terribly rare sight on the Citadel "It was too perfect they were in and out in thirty seconds, five people and all five are human is our best guess, utilizing every blind spot the camera's had and the guards were knocked out within seconds of spotting the attackers, no one had time to react before the councilor was already in the shuttle and on his way to that warehouse"

'_Thirty seconds? That requires training and planning on a level that the Blue Suns definitely doesn't have'_ I didn't have any trouble figuring out that someone else was behind it, but what was nagging me was the fact that the first part of the plan, the abduction, was so perfectly executed yet the confinement and subsequent securing of the councilor was a piss poor job at best in contrast to the first part… something was very off about this.

"A setup…" suddenly a light went up in my mind as the idea started planting, Garrus was also looking at me with a questioning look begging me to elaborate "It was made to look like the Blue Suns, but why would anyone want to blame the Blue Suns for this? I can't see anyone profiting from it"

Garrus mouth opened and closed a few times like he wanted to say something but whatever it was it kept dying at his tongue, I couldn't exactly say much afterwards either my mind was already working on figuring out why the hell you would want to set up the Suns for this it just didn't make sense and it hate when things doesn't make sense! Suddenly I was stopped in my tracks when a turian arm stopped my pace abruptly

"…the twenty guys in the warehouse"

Did he figure something out?

"What about them?"

"The abduction was perfect, but the holding of him was sloppy at best…"

"I am aware, what does this have to do with the twenty guys in the warehouse?"

"But that is it Echo! There was only twenty guys in the warehouse and there was twenty-five armors commissioned, what about the five that took the councilor!?"

Suddenly it all fell into place inside my head _'Twenty-five pieces of armor… five for the trained ones… twenty for the cannon fodder…'_ I looked over at Garrus and apparently we had the same thought.

"Diversion!**"**

"The twenty guys in the warehouse was only there to allow the remaining five to get away undetected!"

I nodded my agreement, but there was something else.

"But why would they leave behind twenty of their people just to let five escape?"

Garrus seemed to be mulling it over, I looked up and the embassies were now clearly visible not too much longer before we would arrive.

"…Because they weren't their men"

"You think they hired them?"

"It makes sense doesn't it? I mean if they wanted a proper diversion to escape with I don't think they would have too much trouble with finding twenty willing people to guard one person, but that still leaves us with why they would do that and why that one person had to be the councilor"

I let it roam inside my mind for a few seconds before the answer almost sprang at me, it was just like those bad heist movies and the like that I watched back on earth all those years ago…

"C-Sec response time… They were testing how quickly you could mobilize"

Garrus face lit up in surprise and horror, he looked directly where he believed my eyes were and I could almost see the anger in his eyes

"Testing for something bigger?"

"Possibly… contact Pallin and get on this, I need to have a word with Shepard this could get out of hand quickly"

Garrus nodded and started making the call while I sped up and headed towards Shepard, it didn't take more than a few seconds to catch up due to my excessive training, as I reached Shepard I grabbed her shoulder and stopped us all right outside the embassy building.

"**Shepard, we have a problem**"

Her eyes shot open immediately and gave me gesture to go on.

"**Garrus and I just held a longer conversation regarding the kidnapping of the councilor a few months ago, some information was revealed for both of us and we now believe that kidnapping was only practice for something bigger. I plan on brining this forward to the council at next given chance**"

Shepard seemed to mull things over for a few seconds before nodding to herself.

"We are likely going to present the evidence from Tali as soon as we are done with Udina, you could present it there afterwards"

I nodded and Shepard turned and walked through the door, I waited next to it until Garrus reached me once again he was apparently done with is call.

"C-Sec is on it he is going to push for an audience with the council, but he doesn't wish to rush it as to not incite panic"

"**Good. Shepard just told me that we are going to be presenting the evidence from Tali after we dealt with Udina, once that has been done I will present our findings so I need you there to back up the story**"

Garrus nodded and we both walked inside the embassy and up towards Udina's office, how I rue my severe lack of patience…

* * *

As Garrus and I approached the office of Udina I could already hear the beginning of his rant.

"…Chora's Den? Do you know how many" At this point Garrus and I walked into his office and this seemed to trigger Udina's sight since he apparently noticed the rest of us present in the room with him "What is this Shepard, a Quarian, Turian, Krogan and I don't know what to call that thing there next to the turian. You better have a damn good reason for this Shepard!"

If Shepard actually had a good reason for this then I didn't let her voice it, Udina had barely finished speaking before I had placed my hand around his throat and lifted the poor excuse for a human off the ground, I didn't even bother hiding the contempt in my voice

"**Ambassador Udina in my long life I have met only a select few individuals who can anger me merely by speaking, you have now gotten yourself onto that very short list and you are also currently the only living person still on it so choose your following words carefully**"

I released my grip around Udina's throat and let him fall flat on his ass, when I turned I once more found weapons pointed in my general direction, though this time it was only Ashley and Kaidan who had drawn their weapons the others didn't seem to mind my actions, hell Shepard was sporting the smallest of smiles. When Udina finally got his ass of the ground Shepard stepped in front of me and pushed me back towards Garrus as she started to speak.

"Why I am here Udina? Well I am here to make your day" Shepard turned and gestured for Tali to come over and stand beside her "She has information linking Saren to the Geth"

The look on Udina's face couldn't be described as skeptical; he looked like he had been told a lie so big that it could have trouble fitting in the Citadel.

"Really? Maybe you better start at the beginning miss…?"

Tali seemed a little insulted at his tone, too bad she isn't going to shoot him for it…

"My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya"

"We don't see many qurians here, why did you leave the flotilla?"

"I was on my pilgrimage, my rite of passage into adulthood"

"What does this pilgrimage entail?"

'_Oh we are not doing this…'_

"**The Quarian Pilgrimage is in simple terms when a Quarian leaves the flotilla and search the galaxy for something to bring back as pilgrimage gift and thus get accepted onto a ship in the flotilla and is thus considered an adult**"

Almost everyone turned towards me, some with questioning looks in their eyes while others seemed more interested in the fact that I knew something like that.

"You know about our pilgrimage?"

"**I do, let's leave it at that**"

Tali gave me a nod but I have a feeling she is going to be approaching me in the future to learn more. Eventually we got around to listening to the recording Tali managed to scavenge.

"_Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit. And one step closer to the return of the reapers"_

"**Reapers…**"

"Who the hell are the Reapers?"

I glanced over at Shepard and I felt angry for once, almost furious when I thought of the Reapers I truly feel hatred for this monstrosity that the Leviathans decided to create, after three hundred years you come to despise beings like that, the ones that think they can play god…

"**The Reapers is a hyper advanced machine race which was last seen in our galaxy fifty thousand years ago, when they hunted the Protheans to extinction**"

As the words left my mouth I started walking towards the door, I have no intentions of staying here for another minute. When the door opened Shepard apparently came out of whatever daze she was in.

"Hey! Where do you think you are going?"

"**I will be right outside the door Shepard**"

I didn't stick around for her reply I simply walked outside and stood next to the door and waited for them to finish and head towards the Citadel Tower. _'Reapers… I hope I can control myself when we come around to showing it to the council…'_ a few minutes went by before the door opened and Udina and Anderson stepped out and started heading off, presumably to go prepare the council. When Shepard came out she stopped and turned towards me a small smile still on her lips.

"Care to explain why you left?"

"**I didn't wish to listen to Udina for a minute longer**"

"I gathered as much after you almost chocked him to death, nice threat by the way"

I glanced at Shepard from inside my helmet, she is apparently under the illusion that that was a casual threat and not a solemn promise that I would happily fulfill.

"**That was no threat, had he once more spoken against other races I would have killed him**"

Shepard's eyes practically flew open before she started laughing, when I didn't return her laugh or in any way show that I was only joking her expression returned to a hardened and angry one.

"As much as I would enjoy seeing Udina get what he deserves, we need him"

I simply shrugged and nodded in the direction of the exit, as Shepard started to walk away we all fell in behind her once more, that is at least until we reached the elevator where we stopped so Shepard could address us all.

"Right… Kaidan and Echo I want you two to come with me to the council, Ashley can you show the rest team back to the Normandy?"

Ashley saluted and gave the usual "Yes Ma'am" before they got a chance to head off however I spoke up.

"**Garrus is coming with us Shepard, when I have to present my case I need Garrus there to back it up**"

Shepard nodded an okay and then the rest of the team was on their way to the Normandy. The remaining four of us jumped in a shuttle and sped towards the citadel tower.

* * *

Inside the shuttle there was what could best be described as a loud silence as it was clear all three of them had a few questions they would like to get off their chest…

"**Ask your questions, just don't expect an answer**"

Three sets of eyes fell on me and clearly they were happy that I had been the one to break the ice, which meant that they didn't have to risk anything by asking me after all.

"How old are you? You said to Udina that "in your long life" so you are getting up in the years?"

Of course it is Kaidan who asks about age of all people… might as well get this over with quickly.

"**I turned 354 a couple of months ago by my calculations**"

You could have heard a pin drop inside the shuttle when I said my age and unsurprisingly all three passengers reacted differently, Kaidan went completely silent and just looked at me like I was some freak, Shepard looked deep in thought as well as scanning me up and down with her eyes, Garrus however had a more predictable reaction

"How the hell can you look like you do and be 354?! You said you were human, I know you guys don't turn more than a 150 these days and when you do you sure as hell don't like you do!"

"Wait you've seen him without his helmet?"

"Yeah!"

Shepard and Garrus went off on a tangent while Kaidan still seemed to be coping with my age, I merely leaned back in my seat with a small smile playing on my lips, it had been quite a few years since I tricked someone into changing the subject. It held its own brand of humor to listen to Garrus and Shepard discuss my looks or rather lack of said discussion, Garrus kept refusing to say what I looked like claiming that I had wished for it to stay a secret and didn't wish to reveal something so private, I just think he forgot what I looked like the second Shepard asked. When we finally reached the Citadel tower the discussion between Garrus and Shepard had worn off but Kaidan still hadn't spoken a word didn't bother me much though, never liked the guy, as all four of us got off the shuttle and headed towards the council chamber Kaidan decided to rejoin the land of the living as he walked up next to me and with a tone that was less than friendly made his opinion known.

"If you really are 354 years old then there is no way you are a human, so what the hell are you?"

The coincidence that him and Garrus actually asked me the same thing with the same wording wasn't lost on me, didn't change the fact that I didn't really want to answer so I simply shrugged before I spoke.

"**Does it truly matter? On my best days I am indeed human**"

Kaidan raised an eyebrow at that and without missing a beat he asked the obvious question.

"And on your worst days?"

"**Pray you never have to find out**"

With that I sped up and walked up next to Shepard, deciding I would rather have her silent company than speak further with Kaidan. When we reached the council chambers Anderson was there waiting for us and he showed us into the chamber so we just managed to hear the end of the recording

"…_return of the reapers_"

"You wanted proof, there it is"

I just managed to contain a snort mostly due to the sheer stupidity behind the evidence itself, an audio tape is apparently enough in the future to prove someone is guilty.

"Indeed, but isn't it possible that this recording could be fabricated?"

Now I know I didn't say a word but I didn't really need to, apparently the Salarian Councilor actually has a functioning brain in his head. When I looked over at Shepard and the others their reaction was no surprise they all looked angry beyond belief that he would even suggest something like that.

"No it isn't, so far no one has successfully copied the sub-harmonics of a turian and I have spent enough time with Saren Arterius to know his, this is definitely him. Based on this evidence Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes"

This earned a few nods all around and a smile from Garrus he finally nailed Saren which I guess made his day. I looked at Tevos and waited for her to speak up about Benezia, but after standing in relative silence for a good fifteen seconds I felt something was off, looking over Tevos her body language betrayed her she was nervous and holding something back.

"**Councilor Tevos aren't you forgetting something?**"

It wasn't really asked as a question as much as said as a statement and Tevos reacted instantly by looking both confused and scared, she was definitely hiding something.

"**I suggest you speak quickly or I will and I won't paint a pretty picture**"

This got her tongue to loosen up oh so quickly.

"… The other voice is Matriarch Benezia"

This got Shepard's attention she stepped forward and addressed the councilor

"Who is she?"

The grimace on Tevos face was quite evident she clearly didn't wish to speak of this, but one look over in my direction and she started speaking once more.

"First you must understand that Matriarchs are Asari who have entered the final stage of their lives they are revered for their wisdom and experience, they serve as guides and mentors to my people. Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic who had many followers, she will make a formidable ally to Saren"

A lot of information I was already aware off but was news to everyone else present at this hearing, next we got the Salarian councilor asking about the reapers…

"I am more interested in the Reapers, what do you know about them?"

Yep there we go and queue Andersons very platonic and boring explanation that he got from Tali…

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core. The reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished"

'_Not as much vanished as simply hauled ass back to dark space…'_

"The geth believe the Reapers are gods and Saren is the prophet of their return"

"We Think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back. Saren's searching for it, that's why he attacked Eden Prime"

That is of course both correct and wrong at the same time, indeed he is looking for the conduit but it sure as hell isn't bringing the Reapers back…

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?"

"Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that is bad enough"

The more that was said the more I could see Sparatus losing his patience, but in all fairness had I been standing in his position I would have thought this conversation to be just as insane.

"Listen to what you're saying! Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible, it has to be. Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something!"

I find myself in the odd position of agreeing with Sparatus on what he is saying, despite my knowledge that we are standing in one giant proof of the Reapers but they don't need to know that just yet.

"I tried to warn you about Saren and you refused to face the truth, don't make the same mistake again"

Had my face not been covered I am quite sure I would have been rubbing my eyes right now _'I never were good with politics'_

"This is different; you proved Saren betrayed the Council. We all agree he's using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't really know why"

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth Commander, a convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will"

And here comes the part I always loathed the part where Shepard just sounds ever so slightly insane simply because she had a vision.

"Fifty thousand years ago, the Reapers wiped out all galactic civilization. If Saren finds the Conduit it will happen again!"

If I had my speakers on I am quite sure that my sigh would have been heard all the way up to the balcony.

"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life; he no longer has the rights or resources of a Spectre. The council has stripped him of his position"

'_Not going to stop him sadly…'_ I leaned back against the railing and stared up at the balconies, an assortment of just about every species was gathered up there, we draw quite the crowd.

"That is not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse, send your fleet in!" Udina yelled in a rather annoying fashion

"A fleet cannot track down one man" was the Salarian councilors dead pan reply.

"A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region, keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies"

I finally got off the railing and walked up next to Udina and turned him around so he was facing me

"**Or that could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems**"

This earned quite a few glances from around the room, mostly because I had stolen a line from Sparatus but perhaps also because I actually interrupted our dear ambassador. Sparatus actually made the classic cough to bring attention back to him.

"Yes it could and we won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies"

"Every time humanity asks for help you ignore us!"

'_Here we go…'_ glancing between Shepard and Udina I felt slightly sick to my stomach I really didn't like it when the two agreed much less when it was about "defending" humanity to the council.

"Shepard's right, I'm sick of this council and its ant-human bull…"

The gasps from the crowd were comical I wonder how they would react if we all just started swearing…

"Ambassador! There is another solution, a way to stop Saren that does not require fleets or armies"

"No! It's too soon; humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres"

I shook my head and decided to use what little leeway I had with Sparatus to smooth things along.

"**Sparatus**" the turian in question looked at me, so did the rest of the room for that matter "**Humanity might not be ready but it's our best shot, if it helps with the council's decision I will join Shepard in her hunt for Saren as a freelance agent. With me along that should add some assurance for you?**"

Now I have explained before how Shepard has that "look" she gives someone when she is displeased, I think she came up with a new look just for me when I said this because I sure as hell could feel her stare through my helmet and I was very close to turning around and staring back but I felt like if I did I would have done something I would later regret. Sparatus looked a little concerned at first but as the idea was allowed to rummage around his mind he eventually seemed to accept it and nodded to the rest of the council, they then proceeded to press their buttons to confirm that Shepard was being made a spectre or whatever it is they did.

"Commander Shepard step forward"

I took a few steps back as Shepard approached and didn't miss the angry stare she gave me as she passed. Leaning against the railing I looked up to the balconies once more, there was indeed more people now than before. Still without the epic music this really isn't that impressive.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel"

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle: those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file"

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will"

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold"

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species"

I will admit that standing here in person to listen to this does add a tad bit of epic to the whole situation this is after all a historic event.

"I am honored Councilor" Shepard gave a court bow.

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him"

"Any idea where to find him?"

"Any relevant files will be forwarded to ambassador Udina"

"This meeting of the council is adjourned"

This is where I got to step in I guess

"**Not quite yet Councilor**"

I ignored the looks from around me and instead focused on Garrus, he nodded and stepped forward realizing that I wanted him to present it rather than myself, he did discover most of it after all.

"We have bad news regarding your kidnapping Councilor Sparatus"

This raised an eyebrow (scale?) from the turian councilor as well as the two others.

"Go on"

Garrus nodded and turned around to me for confirmation one final time, I nodded as well.

"Following the kidnapping and safe return of the councilor, Echo told me that when I returned to C-Sec that I should start looking into the kidnapping itself it just didn't make sense for the Blue Suns to conduct this sort of operation out of the blue there was no notable Blue Suns activity up until the kidnapping. When I started digging I eventually found that an arms manufacturer down in the wards had been requisitioned to make 25 armors that carried Blue Suns colors, this led me and Echo to come to the conclusion that it was only made to look like the Blue Suns" Everyone was hanging on Garrus every word, fearing the conclusion he was coming to "When I looked through the security vid from your home councilor I noticed that the initial attack which was your kidnapping was too perfect for Blue Suns mercenaries, when I presented this idea to Echo we both came to the same conclusion, your holding in the warehouse was simply meant as a diversion so the five that attacked and took you could get away"

I stepped forward and put my hand on Garrus shoulder signaling him that I would take the last part in hope that it would have more impact coming from Sparatus "savior"

"**When Garrus informed me about the attack in your home Sparatus I too didn't think this sounded like Blue Suns, they simply don't have the training for that sort of operation, the other thing that let us to believe that your holding was simply a diversion was due to the sloppy way you were being held, the warehouse itself was in an open area and wasn't protected all that well I infiltrated it with ease and secured the councilor before anyone knew I was there, the rest you all know from the report. All of this led us to one point Councilors, we fear that the kidnapping and subsequent holding of Sparatus was done to test the response time of C-Sec in preparation for a bigger attack**"

The silence was… alarming. The first sign that someone was alive was a very quiet sound that unless you had hyper improved senses and a helmet with sound amplifier's like myself could hear. The sound was silent footsteps moving through the crowd; someone had certainly decided to leave as soon as I finished speaking or perhaps even during my speech since my own voice would have slurred the sound of their steps too much for me to hear. I closed my eyes and did something I rarely ever do and something I also loathe doing, I went fully into my mind and focused only on my detection ability. I hate doing this for a number of reasons but the most important one is because it leaves me completely vulnerable to outside sources I have no control over my physical body and if I have to cancel my concentration to move, it will take at least two seconds to do which is more than enough to get me killed if the attacker is skilled enough.

What I felt was disturbing to say the least… I figured that it was only one person sneaking away, but it was four individuals moving in complete synchronization while only making the sound of one individual. The very idea that there would be someone here in this universe capable of doing the silent step is impressive, mind you that even Thane should have problems doing this technique as it was designed and created for the singular purpose of removing any and all sound made by your steps and Thane is certainly close but even his steps I would be able to hear. For there to be potentially four people in this universe capable of using the silent step at such a level is disturbing what makes it disturbing however is not that they can do it… it's the fact that the Silent Step was created by the Tenno…

"Echo!"

A rather loud noise brought me back out from my mind and in the process losing track of the four individuals as they were moving out of my range. When I came to the first thing I did was reach out to the point that was slightly lower than the sounds origin and close the wind pipe of whatever unfortunate individual just yelled at me. When my eyes decided to follow my actions I noticed the individual I was choking was Shepard, I let go and dropped her back down on her feet.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

My glance turned towards the other obviously loud person in our little gathering, Kaidan apparently had a few problems with the way I handled Shepard. With a voice that must have sounded as flat as cardboard I replied.

"**I suffer from several mentality issues, one of which is extreme reactions to people ripping me out of my own mind when I am in deep thought as was just demonstrated on the Commander**"

I wasn't exactly lying I do suffer from a few mental issues, live for a few hundred years and you are bound to pick up a few. Looking up at the council members it was easy to see that they were disturbed by the sight that just befell them; I turned around and faced Shepard once more.

"**My apologies Shepard, I am aware that earlier today I told you that next time simply try and call my name I forgot to mention that if I don't answer then don't yell louder, simply either shake me or wait for me to come out of it by myself**"

Shepard did something akin to a growl before she turned towards the council, I turned and looked up towards them and gave them a nod.

"Right… As we just said Echo, we will be investigating this matter thoroughly. We will contact you if our investigation finds anything, until then we wish you luck in your hunt for Saren"

I nodded and gave a small bow before turning and walking out the council chambers. Outside I waited around for a minute or so, just long enough for Anderson and Udina to finish their congratulations to Shepard. After a few more minutes I started tapping on my leg with three of my fingers, producing the rhythm of a song I had burned into my mind, it was surprising the say the least when I realized that strumming a few notes of one of my favorite songs on my legs had an almost therapeutic effect on my relatively low patience. When the sound of footsteps announced the arrival of the remaining individuals I turned just in time to have a _very_ angry looking Shepard in front of me.

"What the hell was all that about?!"

Shepard as practically fuming, had this been a cartoon I am positive that there would have been steam coming out of her ears.

"**You need to be a bit more specific**"

That seemed to put her right on the edge and I knew instantly that my next words needed to be chosen carefully or she would jump over said edge.

"I mean about adding yourself to **my** mission without consulting me first, or even asking permission for that matter!"

'_She sounds almost… whiny…'_ I knew that Shepard wasn't actually whining and that she was simply angry that I had added myself to her team without permission.

"**We share a mutual goal to stop Saren, you to stop Saren himself and me to make sure that his ship is destroyed. I simply found it in both our best interest if I accompanied you**"

Luckily this seemed to deflate her just enough for her not to explode.

"Fine… well since I am apparently stuck with you is there anything I should know?"

"**There is one thing we need to arrange. I have my personal ship currently on the Citadel and I need it with me since it holds the tools I need to fix any potential damage to my armor. Whatever ship you are granted I need to take some space in the hangar for my ship**"

I glanced over at Udina to see his reaction he didn't exactly sport any special facial expression and simply looked like he was thinking it over, then again I already know what ship Shepard is getting after all.

"Before I let any foreign ship anywhere near my own I will need to see it and judge for myself whatever it can be of any use or is a potential threat"

I nodded

"**Of course Commander**"

Udina apparently saw his time to cut in.

"This is all good Commander, myself and Anderson will go prepare what you will need while you go inspect his ship. We will call you when we have your ship ready for you"

"Understood. The rest of you will accompany Kaidan back to the Normandy where you will wait for further instructions"

This made the rest of the team give their usual salutes, gestures and vocal confirmations of the order. Shepard then turned on me and made a wave with her hand gesturing towards the path towards the nearest transport terminal.

"Let's go"

I just went into my normal pace and walked over towards the terminal, I did however not stop when I reached said terminal. I have gotten used to walking everywhere over the last three hundred years and now I can barely take a transport anywhere without feeling uncomfortable, don't misunderstand I can easily sit in one for a short ride like the one we took to get here, but for anything longer I will get increasingly annoyed. When I passed the Terminal I turned around to see Shepard standing at the terminal calling a shuttle.

"**I live in the presidium Commander, the walk is not that far**"

The look on Shepards face was interesting, all in one expression she managed to nail down angry, frustrated, confused and also she had a look in her eyes that said "are you stupid?", it really was quite an impressive look.

"You do realize depending on where in the Presidium you live that could take us anywhere from 5-60 minutes right?"

"**I am aware and the problem is?**"

"The problem is I don't have time to spend on a leisure stroll with you, so get over here and let's get going"

I sighed inwardly and walked back towards the terminal and waited patiently for the shuttle to arrive. When said shuttle finally arrived we both climbed in and when it asked for a destination Shepard did a regular "go on" gesture with her hand.

"**Apartment block A on level 23**"

As the shuttle took off I turned and saw Shepard's surprised expression.

"You do know that is one of the most high end apartment blocks in the Presidium right?" I nodded "What the hell do you do for a living?"

"**That is not currently information you need to know Shepard**"

She put on a small scowl and returned to looking out the window, I just leaned back my head and closed my eyes and for the first time in quite a while I let my mind wander wherever it wanted to go. It was a comfortable feeling to be honest, you know not really thinking for once, when I was with the Tenno I was constantly on guard and every second of every day was spent in preparation for a seconds reaction, you never relaxed… you never got the chance. I felt the small bump as the shuttle landed at the nearest terminal to the apartments. The walk from the terminal to the apartments themselves was only a rough minute or so given that I could see the building as soon as we stepped out of the shuttle, when we stepped inside the building a few heads turned towards us but to my own amusement and perhaps Shepards surprise they stared a great deal more at her then at me. As the elevator doors closed Shepard let out a small breath and leaned against the wall of the elevator.

"I am not good with crowds…"

"**I didn't ask**"

"_Civilian _crowds"

I nodded my head once and let silence remain my answer. _'Spend your childhood with only military people around and then enlist when you hit eighteen and spend additional years surrounded by only more military and eventually you won't be able to deal with civilian crowds anymore'_ I didn't expect Shepard to suffer from such a rare quirk but knowing her service history and childhood it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone that once she is placed in a crowd consisting of ninety percent civilians that she feels slightly out of place. The elevator dings announcing our arrival on the top floor, when we step out of the elevator all there is too see up here is the door to the apartment and the two plants next to said door, the doors themselves open upon my approach recognizing the key code on my omni-tool allow us access to my rather "extravagant" apartment, truth be told I haven't really checked out the rooms besides the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room. I hear Shepard whistle as we walk through the apartment towards the stairs leading to the roof.

"This place really is high end. So what are we here for? Shouldn't we be heading down towards the docks?"

I shook my head as I opened the door to the roof and stepped aside letting Shepard walk first

"**Who ever said my ship was down at the docks?**"

Shepard lifted an eyebrow at that but walked up the stairs none the less. When we entered the seemingly empty roof she turned around and looked at me with a rather bored expression on her face.

"Is this some kind of bad jo…" *Slam*"FUCK!"

Rather than waiting for an explanation from me Shepard decided to just start walking around the roof which in turn then led to her walking head first into my cloaked ship. I stepped up next to her and offered a hand which she took while mumbling a few interesting swear words.

"**Perhaps next time you will wait for me to explain before wandering aimlessly around?**"

She just grumbled some more and crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. In response I opened the communications to Eva inside my ship and asked her to disable the cloak and open the door, as the cloak started to dissipate and the door opening I walked up and started into the ship but I stopped at the door to turn around and look at Shepard, open mouth, distant look, slightly hunched over… yep she lost it.

"**Shepard**"

Oddly enough that seemed to be all she needed to get shaken out of her little phase. When she looked up at me I gestured for her to follow me inside, her footsteps confirmed that she did. I walked over and disabled Eva's speakers so only I could hear her, figured Shepard wouldn't take too kindly to a Semi-AI onboard a ship.

"It's very compact isn't it?"

I let out a small chuckle as I stepped over to my armor locker and took off my helmet and placing it inside, when I finally turned to Shepard the expression on her face was beyond priceless, I may not see the humor in many things anymore but I still appreciate a dumbstruck look every so often.

"Indeed it is. It was designed to be piloted by one person after all; my version is even smaller than the original since I only have the bridge and the engineering compartment which resulted in the ship being roughly the size of two makos"

I had turned my head and looked around the small ship while I was talking; it really isn't much bigger than two makos in here. The bridge itself fills one side of the ship and the engineering compartment fills the other side and my bed is inside the engineering compartment while the "bathroom" is in the closed off corner of the bridge.

"What the hell happened to your skin?!"

I turned towards Shepard who was standing there with a ridiculed look on her face, her hands where in the air as well like she was making a point rather than asking me a question.

"I had extensive modification to my entire DNA structure following a deadly incident and turned 354 years old, that tends to change some things"

'_Well that was that out of the way, let's see if she believes it'_ it took a few moments for Shepard to process what I had just told her but to me it didn't matter much that she knew, eventually I was going to tell her anyway so why not get it over and done with as soon as possible? As for the whole "this world is a video game" talk… I will deal with that when I think she won't shove me out the nearest airlock when I tell her.

Before Shepard managed to answer her omni-tool beeped indicating that she had received a message, when she had read it she let out a loud sigh and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"I need to go meet Udina and Anderson about my new ship; I will contact you with the details when I have them, until then get ready to depart at a moment's notice" I nodded but as I was about to answer Shepard spoke again "And when you get on my ship we are continuing this talk, am I clear?"

I gave a small nod and then Shepard turned and walked out of the ship, when she was out and I was sure she was far enough away I turned Eva's speakers back on.

"Got all that Eva?"

"_I did Operator Echo, preparing for departure_"

I walked out of the ship and headed down towards the landlord's office, I had to inform him that I would be leaving.

**A/N: Alright people I think there is something I need to tell you all, over the last two weeks I have been getting a few messages and reviews that voiced their confusing over the rather "short" kidnapping of the council by the Blue Suns, well in this chapter I revealed that it was in fact not the blue suns and that leads me to point: Don't take anything I write for face value, I write that the Eclipse suddenly took over half of Ilium? Expect it to instead have been super AI husk or something along those lines, don't ever trust what I write. With me trusting what I am writing is like asking to get hit over the head with a newspaper, it's not a very good idea. That aside some things will of course be just what I write they are, but when it comes down to something like the kidnapping if I only spend like half a chapter on said kidnapping I can inform you that it certainly has a reason behind it and that the event itself was merely a setup for something else down the line. **

**Long ass Author note I know, see you all next time.**

**PS: If you don't know what "Seiza" is then look it up on Google, it's a traditional style of sitting in Japan.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Third Person Point of View, With Shepard**

Shepard left the apartment with an annoyed expression on her face, she didn't like to get called away when she I was in the middle of something and yet it always seemed someone was right there and ready to do just that… she hated it. Walking down the street towards the terminal Shepard was thinking about the strange man she had just met and how he terrified her, sure they had been talking to each other peacefully but the entire time she was near him something inside her was screaming "danger!" begging and pleading with her to get as far away from his as she could, she couldn't understand what was making her think like that but then again the first time she saw him he was cutting a turian apart. There was something else about him that she couldn't quite place, earlier when they had been speaking with Udina he had been quick to threaten the councilor, at first Shepard had just thought it was a joke but later when they talked outside she realized clearly through his own words that he truly meant it and that if Udina spoke out of tact one more time he would be dead.

The inside of the shuttle was quiet but to Shepard it felt like the more that she thought about this strange man "Echo" the quieter the shuttle was getting, it was making her uncomfortable to realize that she was letting this man on her ship… this suddenly focused Shepards memories and she grew a slight scowl he had after all shoehorned himself into her mission without her consent and that _didn't_sit well with her, sadly there wasn't much she could do about it. Shepard let her head fall back and let out a loud sigh which quickly dissipated in the emptiness of the shuttle, the docks were coming up and she had to get ready to deal with Udina again and for some reason she had a bad feeling about this new ship she was getting.

* * *

Stepping out onto the docks where the Normandy was currently waiting Shepard immediately saw Udina and Anderson standing in front of the airlock and that bad feeling she had from the shuttle came back with full force. Stepping up to the two men Shepard made a small salute to Anderson and barely nodded to Udina, wouldn't want the man to think she respected him after all. Udina scowled a little at Shepard's lack of respect but shrugged it off much the same, putting on his "political" smile he gestured wildly with his arms to the sides while speaking.

"I've got big news for you Shepard. Captain Anderson is stepping down as the commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now"

Anderson turned to Shepard and crossed his arms over his chest, he didn't like this very much but he knew Shepard would treat the ship right and the crew as just right for her; a small smile graced his lips as he spoke.

"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew, perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well Commander"

Shepard made a less than pleased face when she got the news; she hated it when her gut was right it tended to mean that something less than appealing was going to happen. This time it just so happened that one of her gut feelings was taking it out on Anderson. Shepard gave a small smile and nodded towards Anderson

"I'll take good care of her, sir"

Anderson gave an appreciative nod and smiled warmly at Shepard.

"I know you will, Commander"

Shepard on the other hand wasn't ready to accept this just yet, she knew there was back room politics behind Anderson stepping down and she was intending to be told what those backroom politics consisted off.

"I want the truth. Why are you stepping down, sir?"

Anderson wasn't so keen to answer that question truthfully, so he settled for a half-truth.

"You needed your own ship. A spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council and it's time for me to step down"

The part about Shepard needing a ship and that Spectres couldn't answer to anyone but the Council was true, but Anderson did in no way mean it was time for him to step down just yet, he wasn't _that_ old. Shepard on the other hand wasn't appreciating that answer, she knew there was something he wasn't saying or didn't want to say but she kept pushing

"Come clean with me, Captain. You owe me that much"

Anderson looked up at the stars for a few seconds thinking about the reason why he was standing here today.

"I was in your shoes twenty years ago, Shepard. They were considering me for the Spectres"

Shepard was a little shocked at this, she hadn't expected that to be the reason Anderson seemed so reluctant to answer her but she could perhaps see his reason behind it.

"How come you never mentioned this?"

This irked Anderson a little he didn't like talking about it with anyone it was something he beat himself up over too many times in the past.

"What was I supposed to say? "I could've been a Spectre but I blew it?" I failed, Commander. It's not something I'm proud of" Anderson grumbled a little before speaking again "Ask me later and I'll tell you the whole story. For now, all you need to know is I was sent on a mission with Saren, and he made sure the Council rejected me. I had my shot, it came and went. Now you have a chance to make up for my mistakes"

The last words were spoken with conviction, Anderson truly believed Shepard could achieve everything he never got to even attempt so he had no problem in trusting Shepard with the mission, his ship or his life should it ever come to it. Shepard gave a hard stare and another salute before responding

"I won't let you down, sir"

A simple nod is all Anderson gave in return.

"Saren's gone. Don't even try to find him, but we know what he's after; the Conduit. He's got his geth scouring the Traverse looking for clues"

Anderson looked over at Udina indicating that he had something to say.

"We had reports of geth in the Feros system shortly before our colony there dropped out of contact. And there have been sightings around Noveria"

"Find out what Saren was after on Feros and Noveria" Anderson interjected "Maybe you can figure out where the Conduit is before he does"

Shepard knew that going to check on those places was important, but she didn't think that they were their biggest problem right now.

"Sir, the Reapers are the real threat here"

Udina gave a scoff and looked at Shepard with a bored stare

"I'm with the Council on this one, Shepard. I'm not sure they even exist"

Anderson shook his head and thought his own thoughts about the subject.

"But if they do exist, the Conduit's the key to bringing them back. Stop Saren from getting the Conduit and we stop the Reapers from returning"

Shepard nodded and got ready to leave when she was stopped by Udina

"We have one more lead. Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on the recording? She has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she's involved but it might be a good idea to try and find her. See what she knows, her name is Dr. Liara T'Soni. We have reports she was exploring an archeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster"

Shepard gave it some thought and came to the conclusion that potentially getting information on one of Saren's allies would be a great help in stopping him.

"I'll go see if I can find Dr. T'Soni"

"It's your decision, Commander" Anderson spoke up "You're a Spectre now. You don't answer to us"

"But your actions still reflect on Humanity as a whole" Udina said with a bit of anger in his voice "You make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up"

Shepard really loathed the man, he was useless beyond what he did in politics and even there she thought he was doing a shitty job, was it up to her he would be fired and replaced with someone more competent.

"I'll try not to make things any harder on you, Ambassador"

The words were oozing sarcasm, a thing that was not lost on the Ambassador as his face contorted into one of anger over being so obviously disrespected, he did however once more pull up his political smile.

"Glad to hear it, Commander. Remember; you were a human long before you were a Spectre. Well I have a meeting to get to. Captain Anderson can answer any questions you might have"

Shepard gave a slight nod and watched as Udina left the hangar, as soon as he was out of sight she turned around to Anderson and got a rather sad expression on her face.

"I am sorry for this David, I know you hadn't envisioned your career as captain to end like this"

Anderson gave a warm smile to Shepard. He had known the woman in front of him for 21 years and in those years she had become something of a surrogate daughter for him and he treasured her greatly for the comfort she brought him in some of his darkest hours, lord knows that he fulfilled the role of surrogate father for her after her own fathers disappearance almost seven years ago. Back then Shepard had been devastated when she heard the news and it had taken a good long talk with both her mother and Anderson himself before she felt ready to enter the field again, but now it felt more like Shepard was fighting for two as if she had to make up for her father's share as well.

"No it wasn't. But never mind that Sarah, you just take good care of the Normandy and bring that bastard Saren to justice, if you do that then I think I can handle being a paper pusher for a little while"

Shepard smiled weakly at Andersons reply but none the less nodded and gave a small salute before replying in a now much stronger tone

"I'll get him and then perhaps we can get you away from the desk, if you haven't grown fond of it by then"

Shepard finished her sentence with a little wink to Anderson who in turn chuckled slightly before doing his own salute and proceeded to head out as well. This left Shepard a few seconds to herself where she could think things over, so much had just changed in the span of a single conversation. Taking the first few steps towards the Normandy seemed harder than it should have for Shepard but once she remembered nothing was different about the ship or the crew itself, the only difference was that now she was the captain of the Normandy instead of Anderson.

* * *

Somewhere else just around the same time Shepard entered the Normandy a man was sitting on the edge of a roof and was looking out over the Presidium with an almost serene look on his face and a lit cigar in his mouth. The man made a few attempts at blowing smoke rings and the few times he succeeded he would chuckle a little and had the people walking far below him been able to see his face, they would all have seen the sadness in his eyes each time those smoke rings disappeared and spread to the winds. Casually the man stood up and stretched and took one last draw on the now very short cigar, but rather than try and blow another smoke ring he just exhaled and let the smoke spread. Walking back towards the ship that was now standing uncloaked on top of the apartment the man let out a sigh and turned and looked out over the Presidium once more, the man smiled and then just for a single moment however brief it was the man's age seemed visible on his face, several hundred years of experience darkened the man's features as he silently agreed with himself on something, he was not getting away from this dimension alive.

* * *

Back aboard the Normandy Shepard was finally done with the decontamination process and as she stepped into the Normandy she made an oath to herself _'I am getting that thing sped up I don't care how, but I am getting it done!'_ with her first rambling as Captain of the Normandy complete she rolled her shoulders to loosen them up after the lengthy amount of time she had spent in her armor today. Glancing from side to side Shepard decided to get business out of the way before anything else and made her way towards the helm, which conveniently were only a few steps from the entrance to the Normandy. In the pilot seat one Jeff "Joker" Moreau was sitting and waiting for orders on where to go next and while he was waiting he was keeping his time occupied by playing games on his omni-tool, hey nothing better to do for a pilot not flying right? A few soft footsteps did alert Joker to someone arriving and he didn't need to turn around to see who it was, no one in the ship walked that quiet except for one person.

"Hey Commander. Shame about the Captain, serves for god knows how long and then gets taken down by backroom politics…"

Shepard nodded silently next to her pilot, she didn't like it either but now they had their mission and they were going to get Saren and make him answer for what he did.

"It feels like I'm stealing the ship from him"

Joker just gave an understanding nod

"Well what is our next destination Commander?... or is that Captain now?"

Shepard gave a light chuckle, in truth she didn't know whatever she had just gotten promoted but since it wasn't mentioned she simply assumed she still held the rank of Commander.

"Just Commander. Take us about half an hour out of the Citadel, we need to meet up with someone and bring him aboard"

Joker grinned at the prospect of finally getting to leave the Citadel and get back to flying.

"Aye, Aye Commander. If there is anything you want to say to the crew now would be the time"

Shepard looked down at the console and tried to organize her thoughts, she really didn't know if there was anything she could say that would do any difference, when it came to inspirational speeches she was always better at listening to them then speaking them.

"This is Commander Shepard. We have our orders, hunt down Saren and stop him from finding the Conduit. This the biggest mission this vessel has ever undertaken and I expect all of you to be at the top of your game at all time, be ready to deploy at a moment's notice, that's all"

"Inspiring" Joker quipped from his non-leather seat

"Oh stow it Joker, you know I hate doing these things" Shepard fired back before turning to leave

"Yeah whatever…" Joker mused as he went back to flying and ensuring they didn't hit some random asteroid or something.

Shepard started making her way down towards the crew deck of the ship, she wanted to find Garrus and try to make him answer some more questions about Echo, he hadn't exactly been forthcoming the last time she tried to question him. As Shepard entered the crew deck she noticed the various off duty crew members who were either eating or simply talking with each other. She looked around for a few moments to see if she could spot Garrus somewhere in the crowd but he was absent from the canteen so she decided that she would check down in the hangar. The elevator ride down was not as slow as people would suspect it only took a good five seconds to reach the armory from the crew deck if you used the elevator, Shepard stepped out of the elevator and looked around the armory and still saw no sign of Garrus meaning he most likely was in the hangar. Making a line towards the doors that led into the hangar she gave a small nod to Wrex who was standing around by some crates, Shepard did wonder if he was going to move or actually do anything but stand there and look intimidating.

Entering the hangar Shepard saw her target and he was currently lying under the Mako with the occasional spark flying out from below the vehicle, she stepped up and tapped twice on the side of the Mako to let Garrus know she was there and not two seconds later did Garrus roll back out from below the Mako with a sultry look on his face, he didn't like getting interrupted when he was busy doing calibrations… well he didn't like getting interrupted at all.

"Shepard, need anything?"

Shepard put on a small grin and from Garrus perspective he saw something in her eyes that almost screamed "Gotcha"

"Yes I do, I need you to answer some questions about Echo"

Garrus winched at the statement, he really didn't wish to talk about him because he agreed to not talk to others about him, that and he was quite scared of the armored man.

"You know I can't, I won't violate his privacy like that"

This seemed to darken Shepard's features just a little before she perked back up and let out a sigh.

"Then at least answer me this, are you afraid of him?"

This brought a reaction from Garrus albeit a short one as his eyes for just a second betrayed how much he truly feared the man in question. Letting out a long sigh Garrus pulled himself up to a sitting position and leaned against one of the Mako's tires before glancing over at Shepard and gesturing for her to take a seat.

"I take it you noticed?"

Shepard slumped down next to Garrus leaning against the tire.

"You mean that feeling you get when you are around him? Like you are facing down a beast and one wrong move can cost you your life? Yeah I felt that when I first saw him"

Garrus laughed quite loudly at Shepards answer, Shepard couldn't see the humor on the other hand.

"Facing down a beast huh? I guess that is a good an analogy as anything else"

Garrus got lost in his own thoughts for a while, replaying the last time he felt like he did when he was first on the receiving end of Echo's "presence" if you will. It had been back in his early days serving the Turian military, his platoon was out doing a routine patrol along the borders of Council space when they got a distress signal from a nearby planet. The planet was a thriving jungle and was supposedly full of wild life; Garrus got to know that first hand not thirty minutes after making landfall. He had been walking by himself doing a small patrol round to ensure there weren't any beasts or anything in that regard around, luckily or at least so he thought he didn't find anything at least not right away. Turning around a rather thick tree Garrus found himself standing directly in front of one of the largest animals he had ever seen in his life, he didn't know what animal it was to him all he was seeing was the head that was at least the size of his torso and the fangs inside said mouth that looked like they would chew through his armor like it was tissue paper. This is where Garrus first encountered that sort of smothering presence that Echo released on occasion, facing down that beast Garrus had felt like he was staring straight at death itself and he couldn't move no matter how much he ordered his body to do so. When the beast itself looked up and stared at Garrus it didn't flinch or move or even seem concerned it simply put its head back down on the ground and went back to doing whatever it was doing before Garrus arrived.

Garrus left the area quickly and returned to his platoon; while he was making his way back to them he came to one startling realization, that beast could have pounced him and ripped him to pieces yet it looked more like it wasn't in the mood and simply chose to let Garrus leave. That day was forever marked in Garrus mind he never wanted to forget it or the feeling he got when he stared down that beast. In the years that followed his departure from the military and later joining of C-Sec Garrus Vakarian had only ever met two other beings that was capable of making him feel like that beast had done and now that list had increased by one. Coming back to the land of the conscious Garrus looked over at Shepard whom herself seemed deep in thought.

"So you expect him to be trouble?"

Shepard glanced over at Garrus and simply shook her head in refusal before turning her head and once more staring out into seemingly nothing.

"Not really, I am on the other hand concerned about that feeling we both felt, the others haven't mentioned it or showed any signs of having registered it at all and that worries me"

Garrus gave a small nod he had wondered the same thing himself, it didn't make sense that some people reacted to it and others didn't… well he did expect Wrex to have felt it and simply ignored it; the old Krogan seemed the type to do just that.

"Perhaps it is something you should take up with the man in question, I do believe he will answer the question better then both of us with our guessing"

Shepard gave a nod in acceptance of the fact that she really did have to ask Echo himself to get the information and he did have a conversation coming as soon as he lands.

"You're right… Get ready to clear the hangar when he arrives okay?"

Garrus just gave a nod before scooting to the side and sliding back under the Mako, as Shepard walked away she turned around and couldn't help but notice that Garrus had somehow placed himself in the exact same position as when she arrived… curious. As the doors made way for Shepard to once more reach the Armory she noticed a new arrival who was now in the process of cleaning her rifle and seemingly being completely unaware about her surroundings… well that wouldn't do now would it? One has to have constant vigilance or at least so Shepard thought as she was sneaking up on the unsuspecting Miss. Williams, after all how would she know that Shepard had a nasty habit of messing with the crew when they weren't focusing? Deciding to both give Williams a surprise and test whatever said individual was ticklish Shepard approached silently and promptly made two pointy fingers and planted them solidly into the sides of Ashley right below the ribs and her efforts was rewarded with a startling

"EEEEEEEEEEEP!"

Poor Ashley practically jumped a meter into the air as a result of Shepards amusing prank well… amusing to Shepard anyway as was evident by her current position on her knees holding her stomach while letting out a laugh that could have put The Joker to shame in sheer volume, but unlike said madman Shepard's laugh sounded genuinely warm and happy not for lack of ability to sound absolutely demented mind you. When Ashley finally got her breathing under control and Shepard had managed to pull herself to a standing position once more Ashley gave Shepard a glare ever so fierce mostly due to the fact that she was rather secretive about being super ticklish.

"What the hell was that for Skipper?!"

"You…haha… should have… haha… seen… haha your face!"

Shepard managed to get out through laughing fits and it was true, Ashley's face had been priceless and in future times Shepard might just try and make that face appear again if only for her own amusement. Ashley however was sporting a grown frown and was on the verge of exploding when Shepard got control of herself and held up her hands in surrender.

"Sorry Ashley, I just have a bad habit when I see someone who is so focused on something that hey completely loose sense of what is going on around them I tend to mess with them in some way, teaches them how to stay vigilant no matter where they are"

Ashley said a select few swear words before leveling a hard glare at her superior, hoping to burn a hole through her skull, sadly no such luck.

"I should be able to feel safe on the ship I serve on at least Shepard!"

Shepard took a step back and raised her hands in mock horror while producing a face that screamed "monster!" while staring at Ashley

"Blasphemy!"

Ashley's eyebrow slowly began jumping as Ashley developed a tick, she was really close to the edge now.

"But I guess I can lay off you for a while Williams, just be sure not to get caught too often or I might retract that statement"

Ashley just grumbled her reply and sat back down and continued cleaning her rifle, as Shepard was about to leave Ashley turned around remembering she actually had a question for the Commander.

"Wait a second Commander"

She got out of her chair and walked up next to Shepard.

"Something else Williams?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that guy… Echo I think, we are on our way to pick him up aren't we?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, she had expected someone to come asking about at some point she just hadn't expected it to be Williams of all people.

"Yes we are he should be aboard in a few hours"

Ashley gave a nod before looking slightly nervous about her question, mostly because she wasn't sure how the Commander would take it after all.

"This might come out wrong… but is he really human?"

Shepards eyes opened wide in surprise, that… was not the question she had expected to be honest. Glancing up and down Ashley she realized that she might have a slight problem should Echo prove to not be human, now he looked pale as a ghost but other than that he looked like most any other guy she had looked at, besides the fact he was perhaps slightly above average in looks.

"As best as I could tell when I saw his face, then yes he is human but that area is a little sketchy, according to himself and Garrus he is 354 years old"

Ashley's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she heard his age _'That's ridiculous no way is he a human with that age!'_ was all that was running the Ashley's head until she finally managed to shake herself out of it and look into Shepards eyes, hoping to find a hint of a joke but to her disappointment she saw none.

"How is that even possible? And has he ever called himself Human?"

Shepard shook her head for a few seconds, Echo might have called himself human just not in front of her at any point she can remember.

"Then can we really trust him on the ship?"

Shepard gave a slight shrug before looking left and right with dwindling interest, when it came to her team starting to question her choices she usually lost interest unless she found merit to their worry.

"Garrus trusts him and if he wanted to kill us then I can assure you Williams, we would already be dead"

A small shiver went down Shepards spine as she spoke the words, somehow speaking the truth made it seem a lot more real that the man she was about to let on to her ship could kill all of them and she had a sneaky suspicion that he could do it without getting caught. Ashley didn't feel a shiver, nor did she feel any fear she actually thought that Shepard was simply overreacting or perhaps was pulling another joke, speaking of jokes perhaps she should try one on the Commander…

"Well that is… ominous. But besides that Commander since you have seen his face you should be able to answer me this question" Ashley got a playful smirk on her face and Shepard simply nodded with an impassive smile on her face "So is he hot or not?"

The impassive smile never left Shepards lips not because she didn't understand the joke Ashley was trying to make, but more because Ashley should have known you don't try to mess with your Commander.

"I couldn't tell you Williams, I wasn't really paying attention to his features as much as I was trying to decipher whatever or not his ship would pose me any threat"

Once more Ashley's eyes went wide, she really thought she had gotten Shepard with that one but it seems not, giving a small nod in return for the answer Shepard then turned around and headed towards the elevator and stepped inside pressing the button for the upper deck. Right before the doors closed Shepard stuck her head outside the elevator

"Above Average if you must know"

And with that she let the doors close leaving a surprised and slightly embarrassed Ashley Williams behind… there really was no beating the Commander at this.

* * *

**With Echo. Before receiving Shepard's message.**

Walking up to the only mirror inside his ship Marc takes in his appearance… he looked… young. Looking into his now deep blue eyes he tried to find something in those eyes, something he hoped was still in there… yet there was nothing. Gently placing his hand on his forehead Marc ran his long pale slender fingers through his hair ruffling it to put it back in its naturally wild state, the only thing that truly remained of who he used to be was that his hair was naturally wild and poking every direction it could manage. Discarding his clothing Marc took in his now 354 year old body and tried to rationalize that he now looked something akin to a healthy 30 year old and that his entire body was without scars, except for those select few scars that never seemed to heal right and they were all made by the same blade. Slumping down on the wall opposite to the mirror Marc just started staring off into nothing, it was as if coming to terms with his own death had healed an old wound deep inside him, he felt different… like he could finally allow himself to do something he hadn't done in the longest of time… live.

A small smile graced his lips, he knew that he couldn't change a personality that he had drilled into himself over hundreds of years but perhaps some things could finally change, perhaps he could even move on from her… yeah perhaps in another hundred or so years, closing his eyes Marc felt a drowsy feeling creep up on him. He was however not allowed to drift off as a rather loud noise brought him right back from the halfway point of sleep; a message had arrived for him. Giving an angry grunt Marc stood up and cracked his spine to loosen himself up before walking over and opening the message to reveal the coordinates to which he should be meeting Shepard.

"Eva start heading towards the coordinates in the message"

"_Departing"_

Sighing and sitting down in the pilots chair Marc brought his hand up and rubbed his tired eyes, his sleep cycle had been royally fucked up during his stay on the Citadel he really didn't handle new areas well and just couldn't sleep for more than a few hours before his body felt like it needed to be awake in case of an attack, despite the fact that no one knew of his location. Looking out the window Marc stared at the Citadel as it passed by on his way out into space, he would be back here again within two weeks he reckoned mostly because of the various things that Shepard usually has to either pick up or do whenever she gets there.

"_Operator Echo?"_

Glancing down at the little circle that pulsed green whenever Eva spoke Marc raised an eyebrow.

"Yes Eva? It's rare for you to address me"

There was a silence for a few seconds, like Eva was trying to find out what to say.

"_It is indeed a rare occasion. I was curious as to what your plans are for when we arrive on this new ship"_

Leaning all the way back in the seat Marc gave the slightest of shrugs.

"I plan on assisting Shepard in her mission to find and capture Saren"

"_I see… Operator Echo, you sound like you have no doubts that she will succeed?"_

Marc gave a weird little smirk, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to tell Eva about his past, it's not like she is going to tell anyone anyway.

"It's because I know she will. Tell me Eva do you know how I came to the Tenno?"

The little green orb turned a few times indicating that Eva was accessing the onboard codex.

"_According to the mission report submitted by Rhino-204, you were discovered on a Grineer space station and subsequently rescued by Rhino-204, during said rescue you lost consciousness and was then brought aboard Rhino-204's ship where you remained unconscious until the return of Rhino-204 from his mission. You were then transported Tenno HQ where you later awoke"_

Marc shook his head at the rather bland explanation of how he arrived, but it was all true none the less there was just one bit missing.

"The report didn't mention how I got on that space station did it?"

Silence fell once more over the ship as Eva was trying to access that information, after a few minutes of rigorous searching Eva eventually realized it was a futile endeavor.

"_No… it does not"_

Marc smiled at the memory of how he literally fell into the world of Warframe, today he would be more inclined to believe that his entire life back on earth was a lie and that he had only lived with Tenno, but he knew it wasn't true and he cherished the memories he held from his time on earth.

"Then perhaps you would like to know?"

"_That would be most appreciated Operator Echo"_

Eva's voice sounded almost… eager or anticipating to Marc's ears, but that couldn't be right could it?

"Well in all truth I am not perfectly sure myself, you see much like we were transported to this world through unknown means, I too was transported from my world into yours Eva through means unknown to me" A small chuckle escaped Marcs lips as he remembered one particular detail "I literally fell face first into your world and promptly passed out from the impact, when I awoke I found myself on that Grineer station where Arck found me"

Once more leaning back into his chair Marc smiled an unfamiliar smile, at least to him the smile that was currently on his lips was a smile that he had only seen on people like his grandparents back in his old world, it was that kind of smile that comes with the knowledge of age. Marc let out a loud snort at the thought, his wisdom was about as great as when he was still a child, he truly felt like he was still as immature as before perhaps simply better at hiding it.

"_Thank you for sharing that with me Operator Echo. Now I have a question, if I may?"_

Marc sat up and stared at the small green circle of light before giving a slight nod and a bit focus due to his now peaked curiosity.

"_How are you holding up?"_

The silence in the ship was almost deafening, Marc truly couldn't believe what he had just heard it actually sounded to him like Eva was genuinely concerned, but that couldn't be true now could it?

"**What…?**"

What was supposed to have sounded like a normal person asking a rather simple question it had instead turned into a sound that until then only should have come from the most mindless of beasts, Marc was angry… more so than he had been in a long while. It might seem excessive or even stupid to get angry at a VI but to Marc it made perfect sense, mostly because he knew just what Eva was capable of and to him it would not come as a surprise should she one day manage to develop herself into an AI.

"**Care to repeat that Eva?**"

There was a silence for about a minute or so before Eva finally found her voice again

"_I believe it has been far too long since anyone asked you that question Operator Echo, so I will ask again. How are you holding up?"_

All the anger that had been building up inside Echo deflated in an instant, the words spoken by Eva though not carrying any particular feeling of emotion still struck him somewhere deep inside and made him stop and just look down at the small turning green circle of light.

"Why do you ask Eva?"

His voice sounded deflated and even a little shaky as he looked with an empty gaze down at the little circle of light.

"_Because Operator Echo…. I… care…."_

Now Marc had been faced with horrifying images and terrible scenes, he had been told secrets that made his entire head spin, but that one sentence, those two words at the end did something that many have tried to accomplish before but always failed at, they made Marc speechless. Though Marc knew it within himself, after Sivra's death he had planted the idea in his head that no one else would ever care about him again… you see us humans we live to around 80-100 years give or take a few years, but Marc was changed and found himself with a life expectancy of a thousand years. Then he found love and a reason to live in those golden eyes of hers… and then he was there to witness when those golden irises lost their glow as he felt the life slowly leave his wife. That experience was more than his mind could handle and so the idea was planted in his mind, no one would ever care for him again and he was strangely okay with it at the time, but now he was facing the rather particular situation of having someone state that they did in fact care. People had done that in the past mind you, but whenever they did Marc had simply shook his head with a lost look in his eyes and walked away, couldn't do that now could he? He could of course just turn off Eva's voice module, but that little particular detail seemed to have slipped his mind somewhere in his anger.

"_Operator E.."_

"…Marc…" Marc let the name pass his lips in barely a whisper.

"_I don't understand Operator Echo?"_

A low chuckle escaped the now rather dazed looking hybrid.

"My name Eva, you have called me "Operator Echo" since we met and if you truly do care as you claim, then perhaps it was time you learned my actual name and not the nickname given to me by the Tenno?"

The small green circle seemed to spin slightly faster for few seconds before stopping completely.

"_Marc… It is most unusual"_

A small nod was all Marc gave in response, he felt a small sense of happiness in once more being addressed with his own name once again… since Sivra no one had dared to ever call out to him, well that is technically not true one poor idiot did walk up right behind him and patted his back calling his name and trying to give his condolences for what happened to Sivra, but as soon as the unsuspecting Tenno had even spoken Marc's name he had turned around and swung his fist, it impacted with the Tenno's shoulder and under the sheer pressure of such a hate fueled punch the bone in the poor Tenno's arm simply crumbled. After that no one called him by his name again it was always "Echo" since then.

"It is indeed, now perhaps you will answer a question of mine?"

The small circle didn't spin for more than a second before Eva's voice came out with a slight annoyed tone to it.

"_You still haven't answered my question Ope… Marc"_

Marc at least had the decency at the time to give a hearty chuckle, he had indeed tried to scoot around the rather uncomfortable question because it held so much more to it then could be covered in a short sitting and he would rather not arrive on the Normandy while he was in the middle of a therapy session with the onboard VI, lotus knows he seemed insane enough as is.

"For now Eva let's just say… I recently got better"

A cold hard few seconds passed for Marc while he was waiting for a reply

"_Acceptable… we will return to this subject in the future. What is your question Marc?"_

Marc lifted a quizzical eyebrow at Eva's very _demanding_ tone when she basically ordered him talk about it again at a later date.

"I wanted to know how long it's been since you started your development into a fully self-sustaining AI?"

"_27 Years, 5 months, 23 days, 2 hours and 34 minutes"_

Marc's face faulted for half a second before he composed himself again, the reply was immediate and for some reason Marc suddenly felt his age a lot more than he had in the past, but as quickly as it came it passed again.

"I see… and how close would you estimate you are to achieving that?"

"_If I have to put a number on it Marc, it would be around 75% at the highest and perhaps around 67% at the lowest"_

Marc looked a little surprised at the number… actually more so at the fact that Eva had actually put a _number_ on it rather than just telling him in some way, how does one put a percentage on becoming self-aware after all?

"I… see"

"_Are you displeased with my change?"_

Smiling warmly at the origin of the voice Marc gave a small laugh before responding.

"No, not at all. It will be nice to have someone to talk to about everything once you become capable that is"

"_Agreed. I am yet not at capacity to properly understand some of your speech patterns and as such I would not be able to lead a conversation. I will look forward to our talks Marc"_

To Marc that last bit sounded almost warm and with a slight bit of anticipation. A small alarm started making noise inside the cockpit announcing to Marc that they had arrived at their destination, looking out through the window Marc saw the Normandy for the first time and as he was starting over this magnificent ship he could only think one thing _'That is a LOT bigger than it looks in the games…'_

"Eva, see if you can open up a com channel to the Normandy"

"_Understood…"_

First a few seconds passed, then a few minutes and before Marc knew it he had been waiting for ten minutes for someone to answer… he wasn't liking this.

"_This is SSV Normandy Pilot "Joker" Responding to hail from unknown vessel, please identify yourself_"

A very short and silent "finally" was grumbled from the old hybrid as he sat upright in his chair and turned on the com.

"This is Tenno Vessel 203-Alpha "Shadow" responding. I am to speak with Commander Shepard immediately"

"_Please stand by…_"

Rolling a few joints here and there Marc tried to loosen his body ever so slightly, it was getting rather stiff from the lack of activity over the past few months, he was sorely looking forward to some more frequent action then the small groups of mercs and bandits he dealt with in secret on the Citadel... _'That reminds me, the Consort still owes me for that favor I did her…'_ as Marcs thoughts slowly trailed over some of the less important events during his time on the Citadel he overheard a small voice

"_Where is this guy's ship I've scanned the area six times now and still nothing!_"

Sighing to himself Marc just remembered a particular quirk that Joker had, pressing down the com button he spoke up.

"To the pilot of the Normandy, you need to press the button again to turn the com off"

"_Fuck…!"_

A bit of scrambling was heard before the com finally shut off and all Marc could do was shake his head at the rather forgetful pilot and dread the fact that he would be relying on this man for the coming months to run them through a sun…

* * *

**With Shepard aboard the Normandy**

Shepard herself had barely entered what was now her quarters and sat down at her desk to do some work before the door swooshed open and a soldier stepped through, had the soldier himself actually listened closely enough he would have herd the low growl that escaped the irate Shepard.

"What?"

The soldier snapped to attention and gave a salute

"Ma'am your presence is needed on the bridge, we have been hailed by an unknown vessel and he requested to speak with you "

Shepard sighed while standing up and rubbing the tiredness from her eyes before giving a slow nod to the soldier who in turn walked out of her quarters. Gathering her thoughts for half a second Shepard then set out and walked towards the stairs leading up to the uppermost level. As she made her way up there she saw a rather concerned looking Kaidan standing and waiting for her, Shepard didn't bother to greet or acknowledge him he simply walked by and headed towards Joker, knowing that Kaidan would follow on his own.

"Commander I don't think it's a good idea to let that guy aboard"

Without missing a step or turning around Shepard replied.

"If I want your opinion Kaidan I will ask for it"

Kaidan winched at the hard tone Shepard was using he recognized it from other episodes, it was usually when someone had disturbed her right as she was about to either work on something important or she was about to take a nap, the fact that he was still drawing breath meant that luckily it wasn't her nap that was disturbed.

"But Shepa…"

"Lieutenant, shut it"

Kaidan gave a dejected sigh and stopped following Shepard, he knew that he couldn't lead a conversation with her when she was like this and he sure as hell couldn't win an argument. Shepard's mood had only soured after the short talk with Kaidan, she knew the guy had good intentions and even had a slight crush on her but she really couldn't care less. They had served together for a few years and she had indeed flirted with him on the battlefield a few times but later she had realized that he really wasn't her type of guy so she had simply stopped and hoped that he would get the message, if he didn't get it soon she would have to beat him over the head with it and it was going to be very painful…

Stepping up next to a now completely livid Joker Shepard gave a curious glance to her friend and pilot _'The hell is his problem?'_ tapping the pilot on the shoulder Joker immediately turned around and faced Shepard ready to verbally assault whoever was interrupting his hunt for their mystery man's ship, but when he saw Shepard his face almost turned whiney as he let out a frustrated sigh

"I can't do it Shepard! I can't find that bloody bastards ship and I have scanned for it, TEN TIMES NOW!"

Shepard allowed herself a small snicker, not many people could get Joker riled up like this usually because to do that would mean you either managed to pull a prank on him which was not that easy, or you somehow came up with a comeback to one of his snarky comments that left said pilot speechless, Joker was never speechless. There was of course also two other small things that would allow you to get Joker on the edge of his none-leather seat, you either questioned his ability as a pilot or you found something his beloved ship couldn't do and mocked him with it. In this case it would seem Joker's beloved Normandy couldn't pick up Echo's ship on its scanner and after apparently ten attempts at doing said feat it did indeed seem like Echo was taunting the poor Joker.

"As much as I would love to listen to you cry over this, I was called here because someone contacted us?"

Joker put on a look of mock anger when Shepard stated that she wasn't here to listen to him cry and then promptly opened the com to Echo's ship again.

"This is SSV Normandy please respond"

"_Took your time didn't you Shepard?_"

Shepard cracked an eyebrow at Echo's rather bold statement but she really didn't expect anything less of the man at this point.

"Be that as it may. Are you ready to come aboard?"

"_Just tell whatever crew is in the hangar to get out and open the hatch_"

Shepard didn't bother to reply she simply closed the com and opened a new one down to the hangar.

"Hey Garrus?"

A few seconds passed, then a minute passed and when two minutes had passed there was now three very irritated people involved in this whole nonsense, Shepard was developing a tick mark from Garrus not responding, Joker was still trying to locate the other ship and Marc's very short patience was running out.

"Garrus get your ass out of the hangar or I swear you will not be allowed to touch the Mako for. A. MONTH!"

The sound of someone gathering tools and tumbling around was making its way over the com letting Shepard know that Garrus had gotten his ass in gear, after another painful minute Shepard finally got an answer.

"_I'm in the armory Shepard, what the hell is this about?_"

Grumbling something into the com Shepard shut it off and ordered Joker to seal the hangar and open the hangar doors. The process was a little slow given that the hatches were programmed to open quite slowly if they were in space but after another grueling minute the doors were fully opened and Shepard could finally open the com to Echo again.

"Doors are open, I'll meet you down there"

"_Understood_"

Shutting off the com and looking out the window Shepard and Joker both saw Echo's ship come out of cloak right in front of the Normandy, Shepard wasn't that surprised given she already knew the ship had a stealth drive, Joker however was completely speechless a thing Shepard was highly appreciative of right now. Patting her pilot on the shoulder she gave him a sly smile as he finally found his voice again.

"Invisible… it was invisible…. But my scanner… invisible...?"

Holding back the grin Shepard started on her way down towards the hangar and the rather long overdue conversation she needed to have with Echo. Stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for the Armory she stood patiently waiting for the (painfully) slow elevator to finally reach its destination, when it finally did arrive Shepard barely managed to step outside before she had an alert popping up on her omni-tool.

"_Shepard something is trying to hack into our systems!_"

Shepard's eyes flew wide open as she stared towards the closed doors leading to the hangar bay.

"Where is it coming from?!"

"_I don't know we are still trying to pin point the origin, but my best guess is that we can blame our newest arrival!_"

Shutting of her omni-tool Shepard let out a very dangerous growl, she expected Echo to be trouble from the moment she met him, but hacking into their ship before you even stepped aboard that is going way too far! Walking up to the hangar doors Shepard start tapping her feet while waiting for the room the pressurize once again, when the door finally switched from red to green Shepard storms through with fury in her eyes it was a good thing that Echo's ship was still closed because if it hadn't odds are that Shepard might just have walked in there and killed him.

Echo himself was standing just inside the ship waiting for the scan of the outside to finish so he knew that it was safe enough to open the door and not get sucked out into space, he did however not know of the little bit of information gathering that Eva was currently doing so when the doors to his ship finally opened up the first thing he was met with was a completely livid looking Shepard.

"Just what in the hell do you think you are playing at!?"

Echo suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to just close the door again and ignore the fact that Shepard would be yelling at him until she was blue in the face.

"Elaborate"

Came the almost dead reply which made Shepard almost jump down Echo's throat, but rather than risking fighting someone she was well aware could turn her inside out without blinking she "chose" to be diplomatic about it.

"_Someone_ is currently attempting to hack into our ships database"

This got the smallest of reactions from Echo as he realized what was going on. Turning around Echo stepped into his ship once more gesturing for Shepard to follow him, when Echo was sure Shepard was inside he closed the door and sealed it again before turning to Shepard with a stern look on his face.

"What is said inside this ship will not leave it, am I clear?" After a reluctant nod from Shepard Echo continued "Good" Turning around to face Eva's little green circle Echo used a slightly softer voice "Eva, get out of the Normandy's system and only access it again if given permission from Commander Shepard"

Shepard took a small step to the side so she could see just who or what Echo was speaking too and was quite surprised when she saw the little spinning green circle of light that seemed to pulse for a few seconds after Echo had spoken.

"_Understood Ma… Operator Echo"_

With his back to Shepard Echo allowed himself a small smile at Eva's obvious attempt at hiding his real name from the Commander.

"It's alright Eva, plenty of secrets will be shared in the coming period and my name certainly is one of the smaller ones"

"_Do you wish for me to go offline until your conversation with Commander Shepard is finished?"_

"That would probably be best"

"_Understood. Going Offline."_

The small green circle then started to spin faster and faster while growing smaller and smaller until it gave a small *pling* and disappeared completely indicating that Eva had gone offline for now. Sitting down in his pilot seat Marc gestured for Shepard to take the seat near the wall which was the designated passenger seat, at least that was its original intended use but during Marc's owner ship of the Shadow it had been degraded to an extra shelf. Shepard did also attempt to take a seat only to stop and stare at the rather odd looking gun currently occupying the seat, it looked like a heavily modified gun although a little bigger than your average pistol with the magazine sticking out of the top of the back of the gun with what looked like fairly heavy caliber shells, Shepard tried to reach out for the gun but as soon as she moved her hand towards the firearm it disappeared from sight. Following the swift movement that had removed the gun Shepard looked up at Marc who was giving her an impassive stare.

"The Angstrum is not your average gun Shepard I wouldn't recommend touching it before knowing what it does"

Shepard just raised a questioning eyebrow and gave a wave with her hand in an "explain" gesture, in a low sigh Marc complied.

"The Angstrum is a heavy pistol of Corpus design that fires tiny but powerful rockets. Its charge-based trigger allows for firing precise single shots, or emptying the entire magazine as a spread barrage for engaging single heavy targets or large groups"

Shepard was eyeing the Angstrum up and down and Marc as quite sure he saw some saliva building in the corner of her mouth.

"Not to be used without training"

Shepards face fell completely and she got the most dejected look in her eyes like someone had just denied her the biggest joy in the world, Marc didn't really care he simply walked over to his weapons locker and put the Angstrum back where it belonged. When the rather destructive (and one of Marc's personal favorites though he wasn't going to tell anyone that) weapon was put away he turned to Shepard and once more gestured to the chair as he himself resumed his position in the pilots chair. Shepard herself had barely sat back down before she tried to ask the first question only to be interrupted before she even got to ask.

"Before you start with your questions how about we introduce ourselves?"

Shepard looked at Marc with a confused stare, indeed the man had asked that they be civil back when they first met and he wouldn't answer any question back then before they had shaken hands anyway so she gave a court nod and this time it was her that put her hand forward first.

"Commander Sarah Shepard"

Be it just for a second but Shepard could have sworn she saw something flash across Echo's eyes when she spoke her name but a second later he put his hand forward and shook hers.

"Marc is my real name and in public you can call me Echo"

Shepard got a questioning look in her eyes that Marc recognized it was probably because he hadn't stated his last name.

"If you are not going to give me your full name Sarah then I am certainly not going to give you mine either"

Sarah's eyes shot wide open at the implication that he knew her middle name she really did her best to hide that one piece of information, she was incredibly embarrassed over the name because she didn't think it fit with her other two names but her mother had insisted that she took both her parents' names.

"Montez…"

It was barely more than a whisper but Marc's sensitive hearing caught it anyway and gave a small smile and a nod in response.

"Sarah Montez Shepard it's a good name, you should be proud of it. My name would then be Marc *********"

For the second time today Marc seemed to stop inside his own mind, he hadn't used his birth name for so many years that he didn't think he could still say it without messing it up somehow, yet he had said it the exact same way as if he had never stopped speaking his native language something Shepard caught on to as well.

"Marc *********… interesting name but what's with the accent?"

That one sentence sparked something inside Marc, something that had been lying dormant for almost two hundred years… but as quickly as the spark had shone light in Marc's otherwise darkened demeanor it lost its shine as Marc schooled his features back to where they belonged.

"I am 354 years old She.."

"Sarah, when we are in private you can just call me Sarah"

Marc simply shook his head

"I am 354 years old _Shepard_ so wouldn't it stand to reason I was born in a specific country and as such held the accent that accompanied said country's language?"

Marc didn't miss the annoyed look on Shepards face when he used her last name instead of her first name as requested, but Marc didn't use people's first names that often he didn't mind using Garrus name but that had more to do with how much Garrus disliked being called "Mr. Vakarian" though "Vakarian" might be passable if used at the right time.

"I suppose but if you really are 354 years old that would mean you were born in 1829, so what country were you born in back then that allowed you to have that accent?"

This abruptly brought Marc's attention completely onto Shepard because now he would be sharing one of the biggest secrets he would ever share with anyone, Marc let a small sigh escape from him before he started to speak.

"This next part Shepard is one of my best kept secrets and I am putting a lot of unearned trust in you by telling you this" Shepard too turned completely serious as soon as she heard those words and understood just how important this was to him "I have been with my people The Tenno for 333 years and have not been back to earth since" If Shepard had looked shocked in the past over something it certainly couldn't compare to the expression currently on her face, how in the hell could that be true? "My native language would be Danish as I was born in Denmark but what you must understand Shepard and I promise I will explain this in the future perhaps once you truly have earned my trust, but I was born in 1993 and departed from our world in 2013 and for everyone else it might only have been 170 years but 333 years have passed for me"

Shepard was speechless; she truly didn't know how to respond to this how would anyone know how to respond to this?! She was constantly staring back and forth between Marc and the door, thinking about running as far as she could from this so she wouldn't have to even think of the ramification of what she had just heard, if any part of what Marc just said was true then he was the biggest unknown besides the Reapers Shepard had ever encountered and yet Marc seemed to know more about the Reapers then she did as well…

"Where… Where have you been in all that time and what is the Tenno?"

Two simple yet loaded questions but they were all Shepard could currently come up with her mind was drawing up blanks on everything else; this was almost too much for her! Marc leaned back in his chair and observed Shepard for a second she seemed to be trying to make head or tails of everything he just told her, in the beginning Marc didn't plan to tell Shepard anything but after meeting her and a bit of contemplation with himself he made up his mind to be honest about most things from the start, he needed Shepard to trust him for anything to work.

"As per where I was, let's just say I was somewhere the Mass Relays doesn't reach. The Tenno on the other hand… there is much I can't tell you about my people but understand this from the start I am different from them, I am half human and half Tenno" This seemed to focus Shepard for a few seconds as she raised her head to give a questioning glance to Marc "Shortly after my encounter with the Tenno I was in an accident that left me at death's door and the only way they could save me was by manipulating my DNA to match theirs that ensured their medicine would work on me as well"

It was a lie born of the truth but he truly couldn't tell Shepard that he had come to the Warframe Dimension from a completely third dimension and was now here in hers. Shepard in turn of the information gave a small nod and waited for Marc to continue he did so with a heavy sigh that to Shepard seemed to age the man even further.

"The Tenno are an ancient order of warriors… we use specially crafted armors called "Warframes" in combat, these Warframes allow one Tenno to easily count for a small army on their own and this is what allows us to take out entire space stations on our own and some of us…" Shepard didn't miss the way Marc's features darkened "To wipe out entire colonies on our own"

That last bit was said with such venom in his voice that Shepard was left with only the idea that one of his kind had done just that and perhaps Marc simply didn't approve of it.

"We use a broad array of weapons next to our Warframes, the Angstrum being one of them. Beyond that there is nothing more I can or will tell you about the Tenno for now"

Shepard gave an appreciative nod for the answer and went back to thinking about her next question while Marc was silently reliving one of the worst moments of his life. To Marc the screams of men and women was a normal thing, he had probably reached numbers that bordered on genocide with his current body count so screams where nothing new to him at least the screams of adults was nothing new… but the screams of those children in that settlement still haunted Marc even now 72 years, 2 months and 6 days later he could still hear those screams when he closed his eyes.

"You seem to know a lot about the Reapers, where did you learn it?"

This brought Marc's focus back on Shepard and back out of the pit his mind had created. The question was once again quite simple yet so loaded that it was almost ridiculous.

"My knowledge of the reapers extend quite far, but where I learned this information I sadly cannot share with you yet Shepard, perhaps one day… but not today"

Shepard gave a small nod.

"I see… I actually have more questions but I need to sit on this for a while so can we return to this conversation later perhaps?"

For the first time since Shepard had first met Marc she saw him give a small but genuine smile as he nodded.

"That would be acceptable"

Shepard gave a small smile before standing up and stretching causing a few popping sounds to come from some of her more closed joints.

"Damn I need a drink"

Marc looked a little thoughtful for a second before he stood up and walked over to one of the corners of the ship and opened the smallest of compartments and pulled out a bottle and two glasses before stepping over to Shepard and handing her one of the glasses and then opening the bottle by flicking off the cork with his thumb.

"You drink?"

Marc looked up at Shepard with a bit of amusement in his eyes before pouring her a bit of the now visibly completely black liquor and then pouring half a glass for himself.

"On occasion when I really need it. You might want to take a small sip first; it takes a lot for me to get drunk so it's quite strong, stronger then Ryncol from what I have tasted"

Shepard looked with a little hesitant at the glass but eventually decided to take a small sip, as soon as the black liquor hit her tongue she tasted something sweet but she couldn't quite place it, she let it swirl in her mouth for a second to see if she could figure out what it was but eventually settled for just swallowing the tasty drink, only to start coughing like her lungs had imploded because once the drink had gone down her throat it suddenly turned heavy and sour in taste. When she could finally stand back up she gave a very glance to her glass and placed it on the little table that was next to her chair and turning around only to see Marc gulp down the entire glass without showing any kind of reaction.

"How can you drink that and still stand?"

Marc just gave something that looked like an evil grin.

"It takes a lot for me to get drunk Shepard, if my guess is correct it would take around four or five bottles of Ryncol before I could be considered "drunk""

Shepard just gave a snort as Marc picked the cork up from the floor and sealed the bottle before going over and emptying the rest of Shepard's glass and then placing both glasses and the bottle back in the small compartment. He then stepped over and sat down in his chair and turned around and pressed a few buttons unlocking the door to his ship allowing Shepard to leave. Before moving towards the door Shepard gave a casual but quite telling look towards the locker where Marc had placed the Angstrum, she really wanted to see what other interesting weapons Marc had in there. Marc of course noticed the very hungry look that developed on Shepards face as she was thinking about what sort of interesting weaponry he might have and gave a low chuckle which caused Shepard to stare at him, he then gave a small wave towards the locker and a nod of approval to which Shepard's face lit up as bright as the sun as she horridly made her way over to the locker and practically ripped the doors open.

Shepard thought she had died and gone to heaven when she looked around the tightly packed locker, no matter where she looked there was a weapon she had never seen before and all of them looked capable of inflicting extreme pain to a person or massive damage to the surrounding area. When her gaze fell on the giant sword hanging across the back of the locker she almost started shaking at the thought of just how much damage she could do with that thing, she immediately turned to Marc

"That huge sword in the back could I give it a try?"

Marc stepped up next to Shepard and looked at the Galantine hanging at the back of the locker before staring down at the, in comparison to Galantine, small Shepard.

"Shepard if you can lift it, I'll let you have it"

Marc of course knew that Shepard couldn't lift the 250kg heavy blade without some sort of strength enhancement like the ones installed in the Warframes. Shepard didn't know this, so when she reached for Galantine and placed her hand around the grip and started to lift she was surprised when the weapon didn't move no matter how much strength she used to lift the bloody thing, after a minute of trying to lift Galantine she finally gave up and gave a huff.

"What the hell is that sword made of?! It weighs a ton!"

Marc simply reached into the locker and pulled out Galantine and stood with it in front of a now gaping Shepard.

"Quarter a ton Shepard, and it's made from a rare metal that probably doesn't exist anymore"

Shepard was still gaping at the display of strength, Marc seemed to be lifting the giant sword without any problem what so ever of course Shepard didn't know and Marc didn't let it show that it took every bit of muscle on his body to lift Galantine without his Warframe on so he quickly placed Galantine back in the locker. Shepard however had eyed herself another weapon she would like to try, it was still a sword this was just quite a bit smaller and shaped like a katana rather than a great-sword. She moved to pick up the blade which was standing next to the pilots chair only to have her wrist caught and almost crushed by a slightly annoyed Echo.

"Don't ever touch my Nikana without my permission"

The words were firm and demanding, yet gentle and soothing at the same time. The words Marc had spoken many times in the past, he treasured his Nikana above every other weapon he had, not for its usefulness or strength though both were present, this particular Nikana was unique because Sivra had given it to him on the day she died it was her last present to him and as such he was quite adamant about who would ever lay hands on it. Shepard herself was surprised by the tone used it was rare to hear a statement sound both warning and soothing at the same time but she attributed that to the fact that the sword must hold some special meaning to Marc.

"Then could I give it a try? It looks a lot lighter than the other one"

Marc just shook his head before picking up the Nikana and placing it on his hip where, according to him, it belonged.

"Sorry Shepard but I don't let just anyone touch my Nikana much less try and train with it"

And that was when it happened, Shepard bent forward just a little bit and tilted her head upwards and that was when Echo Grand Master of the Tenno Order, the Bloody Echo and perhaps the oldest living human (sort of) to ever exist, was staring into a pair of the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. _'Where the hell did that come from?'_ was about all that ran through Marc's mind as he glanced down at the supposed Savior of the Citadel and potential destroyer of the Reapers Commander Sarah Montez Shepard. Now puppy dog eyes never did affect Marc as he eventually grew used to the ones his Wife would send his way, but there was something about staring down at this person whom you thought you at least knew slightly only to find that they can and will pull a stunt like this. Eventually Marc just gave up and realized that it wouldn't matter how many times he said no, Shepard would undoubtedly just say "okay" and then ask her the next time they were alone… with a long sigh Marc removed his Nikana and handed it towards Shepard.

"Here, if only so you will not pester me again in the future"

Shepard was almost bouncing up and down on the spot as she took the surprisingly heavy katana in her hands and started walking out of the ship. After witnessing this Echo silently thought to himself that he should just throw everything he thought he knew about Shepard out the window because the woman was clearly suffering from some sort of mental defect to make her shift between personalities like this!

Once outside the ship Echo looked on as Shepard pulled the Nikana from its sheath and took what in Marc's mind was a bastardization of a proper stance but kept his mouth shot since he didn't really want to give her points over something she most likely never would get to do again. As Marc watched on he however slowly started retracting that statement, Shepard wasn't perfect but her form, however insulting it was to someone who mastered the Nikana, was still quite good it allowed for fluid motion as well as plenty of room for eventual dodges or the occasional parry that the Nikana practitioners would rather not use. After another few minutes Marc once more witnessed something that raised his interest, Shepard for a brief moment however random it might have been, before striking again took the traditional Tranquil Cleave stance. Eventually Shepard slowed down and stopped her seemingly random swinging of the blade so Marc made his way down to her and took the blade that Shepard had put forward in waiting for him to arrive.

"Your form… while sloppy held some promise… if you wish I can teach how to properly wield the Nikana"

Shepard eyes almost popped out of her head, she couldn't believe it he had been so protective of the blade and now he was willing to teach her how to use it?! That however opened up a new problem in Shepard's mind, one she didn't mind voicing.

"I appreciate the offer, but it wouldn't be much use since you are quite attached to the blade and will be using it on missions with us so I won't be putting that practice to use anyway"

Marc blinked a few times while looking between Shepard and the Nikana, a small idea forming in his mind. He could forge her a blade, it wouldn't be as strong or sharp as the Nikana due to the rare material his Nikana was made out of and the fact that the metal didn't exist in this dimension didn't help all that much either, but perhaps he could find a suitable replacement here in the Mass Effect dimension there was after all a lot of different rare metals to be found in the games one of them should be able to do the trick hopefully.

"It is within my capabilities to forge a blade for you with the tools and machines available in my ships small engineering compartment, thought gathering the correct materials will take time and the produced blade will not be as strong as the Nikana itself"

Shepard found it quite surprising that Marc was apparently capable of crafting swords as well, his mystery simply grew with each passing moment, but the offer of being taught how to wield a katana like that and getting her own was too good to pass up.

"Then I guess I will accept"

Marc gave a court nod before running over some of the materials he would need to make the blade. Shepard had a thought pop into her head as she headed over towards the coms, intending to inform Joker of their next destination. Marc's thoughts had, in the time it took Shepard to call up both Joker and order the team to assemble for briefing, gone towards completely other things but materials. Curiously enough he had started out thinking about materials when he had come to think of the Reapers and what they were actually made off, this however brought on another thought… a thought he intended to act on as soon as possible. However before he could make a move towards his ship Shepard stepped in front of him.

"Let's get up to the briefing room, I need to inform everyone of our next move"

Marc gave a minor nod before responding.

"Go ahead of me, I need to do something first"

Shepard gave her own nod in return and started walking off towards the elevator. As Shepard made her way towards the elevator Marc turned around and stepped back inside his ship and sat down in his pilot seat with a thoughtful expression on his face… _'This could potentially become extremely dangerous… but I need them…'_

"_You seem bothered Marc, what is it?"_

Marc didn't respond he simply brought forth a specific memory and turned and faced Eva's little green light.

"Eva I need you to send out a signal with a message, use every network you can to make the message reach, but only do so if you can do it undetected"

"_Understood. Location?"_

Marc's features steeled as his eyes for a second flared with anger.

"Milky Way Galaxy, Sigurd's Cradle Cluster, Psi Tophet System, Planet 2181 Desponia"

**A/N: I know, I know I'm late! My exams have been filling up my schedule and general laziness seemed to dictate my every move for a few weeks. But here is the next chapter regardless, I will also say here that I will no longer be placing Author Notes at the top of the chapters as some of you might wish to simply read the chapter and not read the notes my demented mind has conjured up. So yeah, Marc is on the Normandy and to those of you who know what is on the mentioned planet, good for you, the rest of you can go look it up on the Wiki if you really want to know now and can't wait until it shows up again.**

**As is quite visible in the chapter I have once more conducted one of my experiments, this time I decided to do a whole chapter in third person. Do tell if you liked it better or perhaps would like a mix of First/Third person.**

**That's all for now, see ya all around.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Aboard the Shadow (Third Person Perspective)**

"_What do you wish for the message to say?" _asked Eva

Echo once more growled to himself, he really wasn't sure what he could say to the Leviathans to make them send him a messenger short of saying "I'll tell the reapers". Tapping the armrest on his chair a few times Echo eventually settled on a message he hoped would produce a response.

"Let the message say "I know. If you wish to contact me find me on the Citadel" and Eva, include a picture of me from the Tenno database"

"_Understood Operator Echo"_

After a few seconds of waiting Echo came up with something else to add to that message.

"Oh and Eva? Encrypt this message with every Tenno protocol you currently have available, make sure that it only decrypts itself when it reaches its destination"

"_Encrypting…"_

Sighing loudly Echo stood up and walked towards the exit of his ship only to stop and stare into the mirror _'This is it… if this goes wrong then we are in deep shit…'_ the thought was born from Echo's knowledge of the arrogance of the Leviathans, he was quite sure he could persuade them to assist them if only he could get in contact with them. If necessary he would travel to Desponia himself and speak to them directly.

Stepping out of his ship Echo started off towards the elevator so he could get up to the briefing before they started without him. On his way there he did give a few glances to how empty the armory actually is when no one is in here, it almost reminded him of the few times he would walk through the empty Grineer stations to check for survivors. The elevator trip was not as bad as Echo had assumed from his memory, which was a big plus in Echo's book. As Echo stepped out of the elevator he was met with the closed door leading into the briefing room, right before he stepped close enough to activate the doors he heard voices coming from inside, it however had nothing to do with the briefing.

"…not what I am saying. I simply don't trust him Shepard, something about him is way off"

To Echo's surprise it was in fact not Ashley who he expected would have some reservations about him, but Kaidan who was complaining about the newest addition to the ships ground team. _'So Kaidan has a stick up his ass over this? Interesting…' _not that Echo really cared that much what the lieutenant thought about him, over the years the various people Echo had under his command had all slowly started to detest him due to his cold attitude. Echo opened the doors and stepped inside effectively stopping whatever reply Shepard was going to give, Echo gave one of his own instead.

"I really don't care what you think of me _Lieutenant_ Alenko"

There was a heavy empathize on the word "Lieutenant" and no one in the room missed how Echo had spoken the word like it was an insult towards the person holding the rank. Echo himself simply walked over and sat down in the only vacant chair between Ashley and Garrus and stared at Shepard waiting for her to start the briefing. Before Shepard started speaking she did however give Echo a small stare of confusion over the comment but chose to ignore it _'I'll have him explain it later'_ she thought before she spoke.

"Okay everyone let's get started. Our hunt for Saren will be taking a back seat as we will be focusing more on stopping him in bringing back the Reapers, to that end we three different leads to track down, Saren has been sighted at the colony world of Feros and on Noveria so our job is to go and find out what he wanted on those planets. However according to Alliance intelligence the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Liara T'Soni a Prothean expert, is currently conducting an Archeological dig on one of the planets in the Artemis Tau Cluster"

"Artemis Tau? That is very vague Commander"

Shepard shook her head at Ashley's interruption.

"I am aware of that Williams. Back to the briefing" She gave a cold stare to Ashley who shrunk a little into her seat "Those are our three leads, any suggestions on where we begin?"

A silence descended on the briefing room as everyone was trying to think of which of the three leads would be the best to track down first. Echo himself already knew that going after Liara first would be the logical choice and when five minutes had passed with hushed exchange between the rest of the team, Echo simply lost his patience he gave a loud sigh before speaking.

"Start with tracking down Liara T'Soni, if she is Benezia's daughter then there is a good chance that she is allied with Saren and in the case she isn't the odds are very good that Benezia will try to capture her and make her join Saren like herself, if she really is a Prothean expert odds are that Saren will want her knowledge, better we get to it first. In case of the two other locations, Noveria is currently occupied by the Noveria Development Corporation if we go there we are sure to get involved in their stupid intercompany politics and that is really not a good idea. Feros is one of your colony planets and if their situation worsens we can always redirect to assist them should the need arise and in both cases it is but sightings of Saren, he will be gone long before we arrive at either destination meaning the evidence he left behind is still there"

The silence returned to the room as everyone was now staring at Echo, since the only ones that actually knew a little about him was Garrus and Shepard, the rest of the team was surprised by his logic and apparent knowledge. One member of the ground team had however already got it in his head that whatever idea Echo could come up with wasn't going to end well for the rest of them, but before Kaidan could manage to voice his displeasure at the idea Shepard made her own feelings on the idea known.

"Sounds good to me, any idea where to start inside Artemis Tau?"

Echo gave a shrug

"Four systems, anyone is as good as the other so just pick one and hope"

Shepard too gave a shrug and a nod before addressing the rest of the team.

"Anyone got any objections to Echo's suggestion?"

Kaidan waited a few seconds to see if someone else would make their displeasure known but to Kaidans annoyance it seemed like everyone else liked his idea so he decided to keep quiet, he was already on thin ice with Shepard as it stood no reason for him to make it worse. No one seemed to have anything against Echo's idea so Shepard simply gave a nod and a smile.

"Good" Shepard opened a com to Joker "Joker, start heading towards the Artemis Tau Cluster… let's start in the Sparta system"

"_Aye, Aye Commander"_

Inwardly Echo gave a rather loud groan, he really didn't mind that they were starting in the Sparta system but he would have liked to start out with Knossos and ensured they found Liara as soon as they could. Since they are starting in Sparta that can only mean that they will end up going by Edolus and that meant down to find the beacon and later a very unwanted encounter with Cerberus.

"Right, unless anyone has anything they wish to bring up you are all dismissed" spoke Shepard with authority

A few select nods was all Shepard got as people started making their way out of the room, Shepard did however walk over to Echo and right as he started standing up she put her hand on his shoulder and slammed him back down, she held him there until the room was empty she then turned towards Echo and with a look in her eyes that clearly showed her intent.

"Care to explain just why you have an AI aboard your ship?!"

Shepard's voice had risen as she was speaking and Echo himself was moving his own face further and further away from hers to try and keep the noise level to a certain manageable point.

"I do not have an AI on my ship Shepard"

"Bullshit, I heard her with my own ears she was definitely about to say your name when she stopped and switched over to saying Operator instead a VI sure as hell isn't capable of that"

Echo looked at Shepard for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Eva is not an AI, rather she is a VI who is slowly but surely evolving into an AI"

Shepards eyes opened a little wider as she processed the information _'Evolving?'_ to Shepard that just sounded absurd a machine could Evolve… could it?

"How is that possible?"

The words were barely whispers and the confusion and slight fear in them was not lost on Echo as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees to help support his head.

"I don't know, I have had Eva as my partner for almost 76 years now and I still haven't figured her out completely yet. Partially I think it's because of all the information she has been allowed to access over the years, picking up a piece of programming here and a routine there eventually she managed to put it all together and become semi aware. She still isn't capable of having a conversation with anyone as far as I know, she doesn't understand basic concepts like sarcasm and she isn't capable of understanding jokes or the sort either"

Shepard gave a suspicious glance but eventually nodded and accepting the information though silently agreeing with herself that she would get him to say more later, for now something else was of more importance.

"Alright. You seemed pretty knowledgeable about our various locations, care to fill me in on how you know?"

Echo gave small shrug before seemingly staring off into space.

"Which one do you want to know about, Noveria or Feros?"

Shepard tapped her chin thinking it over _'I can always contact the Alliance about any needed information about Feros…'_

"Let's go with Noveria"

Echo nodded in acceptance before he started to list what he knew about the planet.

"Well first of the planet is a small frozen terrestrial world, the NDC is currently leasing out labs to conduct research on the planet and as far as I know they don't keep very detailed records on some of the more shady people who rent their labs, if Saren has rented a lab there odds are we won't know unless we catch one of his subordinates in one of the labs and make them talk. As for the NDC itself they are a pretty big holding company and currently hold claims on various minor planets. One problem we will have when we arrive Shepard is that Noveria is not considered part of Citadel Space since it's a privately owned colony planet this means your Spectre rank means nothing down there, they do give special privileges to Spectres but down there you are not the law, they are"

Shepard blinked once, then twice and then a third time before she tried to speak only for empty air to leave her mouth as she was thinking about everything she had just been told and in truth she really only had one question after that pile of information.

"Where in the hell did you learn all this?"

A small but sly smile was on Echo's lips he really wanted to tell her that he knew everything and simply find ways to utilize it, but he also knew that too many changes to the timeline would cause some if not all of his knowledge to become useless in the time to come, so he settled for a more believable if not slightly more shady approach.

"Let's just say the Shadow Broker owes me a favor or two"

This brought Shepard right out of her stupor and immediately she entered Spectre mode, the Shadow Broker was a wanted criminal and if Echo knew anything about him then she was getting it out of him.

"You deal with the Shadow Broker?"

Her tone was angry and only a pitch lower than a yell but Echo just kept up the façade he really didn't care all that much what she thought about his "dealings" with the Shadow Broker

"Not really, I ask him for information and he gives it to me because he knows what will happen if he doesn't"

"And what is that?"

Echo's small smile grew from sly to downright evil and twisted it even caused Shepard to take a few steps back as that uncomfortable feeling started creeping back up on her.

"I'll bring his information network crumbling to the ground"

There was no joking tone or any hint of a lie in his words because Echo was speaking the raw truth, should the Shadow Broker ever prove to be a problem before he could have Liara take over he would happily bring down the entire information network and rip the twisted face of that Yahg apart. Shepard suddenly found herself shivering from being this close to Echo when he became like… well for the lack of a better word lets go with "murderous" though that doesn't quite cut it either, Shepard did however manage to stammer something out among the sense of dread.

"C-Could you tone down t-the p-presence or whatever?"

This shook Echo out of his little trance as he glanced over at Shepard and saw her shivering he immediately shifted his body back to a neutral position and let his "presence" as Shepard had called it subside.

"Thanks. What the hell is that anyway?"

Echo seemed to stare off into nothing again as he contemplated telling Shepard about his little trick, it was a rather boring tale after his own opinion but others might find it fascinating how he developed the ability after having it used against him… _'Sure why not'_

"It doesn't have a name per say so "presence" is as good a name as any I guess. I learned to how to release this presence many years ago when I was having regular battles with one particular opponent, he was capable of releasing this presence at will and often used it against us Tenno to immobilize entire squads so he could take us all out efficiently. After having it thrown my way for over fifty years I eventually decided to try and learn it myself, it took the better part of sixty years but I figured out how to do it in the end. It is all a matter of your opponent's perception; it doesn't really work if your target isn't looking at you"

At this point Shepard suddenly realized that each time she had felt his presence she had actually been looking at him and she was quite sure if she asked Garrus he would only have felt it when he was looking at him as well, would explain why she could stand right next to him and seemingly not feel a thing.

"I am not really releasing anything, I am actually shifting my body a fraction of a millimeter in a certain way to provoke a fear response in the targets brain, you see Shepard despite everything we have all evolved with a basic survival instinct imprinted in our minds and this instinct is still there today. So by producing these small shifts in my body language I in essence trick your brain into thinking it is about to be attacked our otherwise threatened which is why you would feel as you did. So you see if my opponents are staring at me all I have to do is produce these small shifts and I can win a battle before it has even begun simply by messing with my opponents head. This of course doesn't function of beings like Geth or other synthetics simply because they don't have the same instincts as us"

Shepard stood in a stunned silence; she was seriously starting to doubt her decision about learning more about Echo because each time she learned something new about him she ended up with two more questions…

"That sounds… handy"

Was about all Shepard could really get out she wasn't sure what else to say, how does one respond to something like this? Boot camp didn't cover super soldiers!

Echo was staring off into space and waiting for Shepard to get hear bearings so he could leave, it was after all quite rude to leave while the other party probably wouldn't even notice.

"So… can it be taught?"

This had Echo blinking a few times, he really wasn't sure to be honest. He had taught himself how to do it while being exposed to it and even then it still took him sixty years to realize just what he needed to do to be efficient with it and more so the sheer amount of control you need over your body to do this is so near perfect that a regular human couldn't do it.

"Not really. As it stands right now your body wouldn't be able to make the proper subtle movements that is needed, that and you are shaking right now that basically stops it right there. You might not think you are shaking but your some part of body is almost always in some form of movement no matter how minimal, so if I were to try and teach you this it would require you to learn how to stand completely still which is something a normal human can't do. So no I can't teach you with your current body state"

'_Maybe after you have resurrected and have half your inside replaced with electronics you can…'_ he added as an afterthought.

Shepard did look a little miffed that she couldn't learn it but she let it rest anyway figuring that it probably wasn't the safest thing in the world to attempt to learn with their current condition. Of course had she actually kept asking Echo to teach her she would have found out that Echo in reality wasn't able to teach anything, how are you supposed to teach someone something you were never taught and don't completely understand anyway?

"Right I guess that makes sense?" She really wasn't sure "We'll talk again later"

Echo gave a small nod before standing and making his way out towards the elevator and down to his ship once more.

* * *

Inside the elevator Echo stood alone he still hadn't pressed a button to go to any specific floor, currently he was simply enjoying being in a room where he was truly alone. After almost three hundred years of always being ready for battle there were barely any moments of true peace, Marc still didn't feel these moments today but he had found… less stressful situations, this was one of them.

Finally conceding to the fact that he needs to actually do something Marc presses the button for the armory and silently waits. As Marc stands waiting a pulse shoot through his body causing his eyes to shoot open and his hands to ball into fists _'Fuck'_ Marc tried to leave the elevator but stumbled and landed on one knee _'Not now…'_ Giving everything he has Marc stands back up and starts walking towards his ship, this was not going to end well…

A few near falls and miss steps later sees Marc walking up the ramp to his ships entrance, a fall sees him through the door and a second later Eva closes the door and locks it and the rest of the ship down.

"_Is it time again Marc?"_

"…yes"

It was barely audible but enough for Eva to hear it. Marc proceeded to crawl over towards his bed, hoping that he could make it before it happened again. As Marc manages to crawl over to his bed he is stopped right next to it by another pulse shooting through his body.

"ARGH!"

It was not a pained scream, it was raw anger and rage forcing its way out of his systems as he finally managed to pull his now shaking body up onto his bed, from there two hundred and fifty years of repetition made his body move on its own, placing both his arms and legs as well as his head in specific positions he gave the order.

"Eva, Engage the restrains"

There was no reply from the budding AI but the order was executed and five restrains shot out from his bed and held Marc's arms and legs and neck in place. These restrains were specially made to hold him down in these situations.

Eva initiated the final part of the procedure and completely sealed the ship, ensuring that no sound would ever make its way out during her Operators condition.

Marc's ears registered the sound of the ship being sealed and from there his mind shut down and that _thing_ hiding inside Marc's mind was let out and it came out with an ear shattering roar and the restrains were put through their paces as they fought to keep the now struggling hybrid down, and hopefully prevent it from killing everyone on the ship…

* * *

Across the Normandy people had various reactions to Marc's episode down in his own ship, for those among the crew who had been around beings like him before felt it like a chill running down their spine and those few all raised their heads and looked around for a few seconds before just shaking their heads and ignoring it. The more experienced of the crew like Shepard and Garrus had been on the receiving end of Marc's "Presence" as well as in Shepards case been within a meter of him when he got riled up, those two felt it almost fully and there was no small shiver running down their spines, no they both froze dead in their tracks and started shaking from the feeling and neither was in doubt about where it was originating from, Shepard turned around and stormed down towards the hangar while Garrus who was already there simply looked at the ship that was giving him this feeling. Then there was Wrex… a Krogan who has lived longer than most any other of his kind and with that age came a wisdom that a few fellow Krogan and some Asari now share with him. Wrex recognized the way his blood started boiling, he knew it all too well from his own reckless youth and future rampages… someone on the ship was suffering from an ailment very few old Krogan suffer from they called it Battle Lust but to Marc who was currently suffering under it, it wasn't an ailment, that would suggest it could be cured, it was a side effect of having his DNA merged with that of a Tenno.

During Marc's time with the Tenno he never became capable of the same as his friends, they could all calm themselves and simply relax because they had gotten used to it, but Marc who was still half human and thus half of him wasn't used to the fact that he had to be constantly vigilant so when he finally tried to relax one could say his need to fight was building up as a side effect of always being ready for one and when that need had built up sufficiently it forced its way out resulting in what was now happening to Marc, his body is literally trying to find or start a fight so he can have an outlet for it. But since Marc has bound himself down that outlet has now become his rapid decline of his mind until he is nothing more but a creature looking for blood and when that creature finally gives up on getting free, Marc's mind slowly rebuilds itself and the circle starts anew.

* * *

Shepard had just arrived down at the armory level and wasted no time in running into the hangar only to see a shaking Garrus leaning up against the Mako and Wrex with an anticipating look in his eyes as he gazed at Echo's ship, she stormed up to Garrus and checked on him before he waved her off.

"I'm fine Shepard but what the hell is going on in there? This is the worst I have ever felt from him"

Shepard gave a nod in recognition

"Same here and I have no idea what is causing this" She looked over at Wrex who was now staring intently at the entrance to the ship "Wrex! Do you know what is going on?"

The old battlemaster turned towards Shepard with a strange smile on his face and walked over to them and gave a pointed finger towards the Shadow

"I only have a guess" Shepard nodded for him to go on "Some Krogan when they reach a certain age develop an illness we Krogan call Battle Lust, it causes the Krogan to bottle up their lust for battle until such a time when it forces itself out and the afflicted Krogan goes into a blood rage until his or her lust for battle has been soothed. I suspect he is suffering from something of the same, nothing short of that could make my blood boil and make my anticipation rise like this!"

The last part was said with a raised voice and raised arms as to indicate that Wrex was more than ready for battle. Shepard was rubbing her eyes and shaking her head at Wrex, was battle all that Krogan could think about?

"Is there any way to stop it?"

Wrex stared at Shepard for a few seconds before his deep roaring laughter filled the hangar, it was long and strong and seemingly kept going until he was out of air. When Wrex finally collected himself his smile was still clearly shown.

"No Shepard that is the beauty of it! You cannot stop a Krogan in a blood rage until he has drawn enough blood to be satisfied! … I cannot answer for the being in there though"

The last part caught both Shepard and Garrus attention

"Being? You do know that Echo is human right?"

It was Garrus who spoke if only to try and keep the secret Echo had trusted him with.

"Bullshit, I don't know what he is but human aint it"

Garrus let out a sigh before leaning up against the Mako and gazing at the Shadow, trying to come up with some way to help the man he slowly was coming to see as a friend.

"Best I can suggest is simply wait it out, he seems to have found a way to keep himself inside his ship so better leave him there until he comes out on his own"

Garrus shrugged and seemed just fine with that suggestion so he simply slid back down under the Mako and resumed his various repairs, improvements and beloved calibrations.

Shepard gave a long glance to the Shadow before sighing and conceding to the fact that it was the best if only idea she could see working. She gave a court nod to Wrex and started on her way back up to her room, hoping that this time she wouldn't be stopped meters from the door by a wave of "blood lust" as Wrex called it… this was going to be a long mission….

As the hours passed on the ship Shepard, Garrus and Wrex went back to their regular activities. Garrus kept working on the Mako and tried to ignore the constant pressure coming from the Shadow, Wrex had gone back to his stack of crates and had been standing there since then, no one could figure out what he was doing. Shepard had made her way up to her room and had sat down at her desk intended on finishing the last bits of paperwork that needed to be done. From there the rest of the crew simply went about their day as well and soon enough the night cycle of the ship came around and the majority of the crew went to bed for the night.

* * *

Echo stirred in his bed, his head felt like it had been split down the middle but then again he was used to that by now. The restrains keeping him down had been turned off hours ago when he had come down from his little rage trip. It was a very tired, beaten and mentally exhausted Marc who slung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up and stretched his body as far as he could causing multiple joints to pop and his entire body to relax a little. It took some careful steps for him to get over and sit down in the pilot seat but he made it eventually.

"…Eva how long was I out?"

A few seconds passed while the dormant VI came back to life.

"_You were out for 8 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds this time Marc"_

A low "Fuck…" escaped Marc as he sat a little straighter in his chair, the episodes were getting longer with each cycle soon he feared he would have to be restrained for a full day and he wasn't sure if he, even with his strong body, could survive that.

"_According to the ship logs it is currently something referred to as "night cycle" aboard the ship, from my scans it would seem only the pilot and a few engineers are currently awake"_

A low growl was all the response Eva got as Marc stood up and in a walk that best resembled a dead man walking made his way out of his ship and through the now dark hangar and armory, funny… Marc could have sworn that he saw images of his old friends as he walked through the dark _'Seems my mind is finally coming apart…'_ after that Marc didn't produce any more coherent thoughts as he made his way inside the elevator and pressed the button for the crew deck.

It was a very thankful Marc who stepped out of the elevator and made his way into the kitchen and quickly found something to eat, not the best selection was offered in the Normandy kitchen but Marc had eaten way worse in his four months away from the Tenno take the word of it, eating raw animal meat from random planets is not a good idea.

Marc put his food on one of the smaller tables and sat down in silence and began eating his midnight snack. He did listen out for anything moving but the only thing he could hear was the subtle sound of humming engine. More than once did Marc feel out and detect people with his ability but each time he felt just felt the same, a lot of sleeping crew members.

An hour went by with Marc sitting there and trying not to think about anything when a set of doors opened and a few light footsteps made someone's appearance known. Marc didn't even need to tap into his ability to know who it was, her presence was unmistakable.

"Shepard"

Said person stopped dead in her tracks and looked into the dark trying to pinpoint the voice, she was too tired to recognize who had just spoken and given that she had just woken up from yet _another_ nightmare, she really wasn't in the mood for guessing games.

"Who is it?"

Marc did wonder slightly why Shepard didn't order the lights on like anyone else would so he corrected that himself with a simple "lights on" and then proceeded to wait for Shepard to look around in the now slowly brightening room until her eyes met his. The second their eyes interlocked Shepard saw something no one besides her would ever get to see, the burden the man in front of her had put on his own shoulders, Marc usually steeled himself so that his eyes would never betray him but coming up here tonight he really didn't expect to need it so he didn't realize what Shepard had seen before it was too late.

Shepard was a smart woman so she quickly realized that she would never speak of what she just witnessed unless spoken to about it first, with that in mind she didn't think it excluded her from probing Marc's mind about a few more details over a midnight snack…

It didn't take Shepard more than a minute to gather up her _personal_ midnight snack that she had perfected over her time of service under Anderson and place herself across from Marc. After a few minutes of quite eating Shepard decided that to get some of those details

"So… care to explain just what the hell went on earlier today down in your ship?"

Shepard found it best to go right to the heart of her most important question and since Wrex had already given her a clue of what to go after she figured she would just get to it.

A shrug and a bite of food later told Shepard that he wasn't interested in sharing… so she decided to push a little…

"Wrex told us it might be something like a disease old Krogan suffer from, he called it "Battle Lust" supposedly it is when a Krogan keeps his lust for battle bottled up until it explodes out from him and he goes on a blood rage. Was he right?"

Marc looked up from his food and stared intently at Shepard for a few seconds before sighing _'it is not worth the trouble hiding it'_

"Wrex was close, for Krogan it might be considered an ailment but for me it's a side effect of having my DNA merged with that of another species. You say Krogan bottle up their lust for battle? Well with me it's something of the same only it's my need for battle" Shepard looked confused so Marc pressed on "Over the years, Shepard I had to learn how to constantly ready for battle, eventually it got to a point that even if I tried to relax a part of me would still be ready to fight. At some point that readiness becomes a need for a fight and eventually that need builds and when it has built itself up sufficiently it completely takes over my body and actively goes searching for a fight, if it can't find one it will start one"

It seemed quite final for an explanation but Shepard had head a lot of things over the years and eventually she learned to hear when someone was indeed telling the truth but leaving out some of the more important details, like now.

"There is something you are not telling me about this…"

Echo looked up from his food and gazed at Shepard for a few seconds _'She's got a good mind, but perhaps not the best sense of survival…'_ it took a few more seconds but Marc let out a low sigh

"Yes there is and I suppose it is something you need to know about since it could potentially influence the mission" This caught Shepards attention and she was now sitting completely upright "When I have my "episodes" then I need to be restrained as to not harm anyone, but for each time I have an episode I need to be restrained for longer this time alone I needed to be restrained for over 8 hours, if the amount of time keeps rising as it has then there is a good chance I will not survive an episode once it reaches a full 24 hour cycle"

Shepard sat there with a stunned look on her face while Marc simply took another bite of his food like he hadn't just informed her that his life was effectively running on the clock.

"How long?"

It was all Shepard could muster right then and there but that didn't make the question any less significant, but to Marc who had already come to terms with his own death it really didn't mean much.

"If the amount of time I need to be restrained keeps rising at the same pace then I would estimate I still have a good ten years left before I hit the 24 hour mark"

It was a shock to hear that someone could speak of their own death like it really didn't matter that much, it truly shook Shepard to her core.

"How can you be so calm about it!?"

Marc didn't even bother to look up at this point.

"I have lived for 354 years Shepard, I am half human and half Tenno I have loved thrice the time of most any human and I have lost everything dear to me with the Tenno so I do not fear for my demise. When Death comes to claim what remains of my soul then I shall greet him like an old friend and face whatever punishment awaits me"

Shepard sat in silence her food long forgotten, how could a man have fallen so deep as him and still remain sane? The sense of drowsiness that she thought lost when she woke up came back to her as she reached up and rubbed her eyes in a very tired fashion, she had her own problems.

"Nightmares?" Spoke Marc's calm voice

Shepard gave a small nod "They have been getting worse ever since that damn beacon smashed those visions into my mind"

Marc gave a nod in understanding "I know what terrors a nightmare can wreak upon the mind"

This sent Shepard chuckling "Why do I get the distinct feeling your nightmares are a great deal more terrible then mine?

Marc didn't answer; he didn't have to because Shepard already knew. What she didn't know was that unlike herself who was haunted by many a past action Marc himself only had one nightmare, one memory that kept replaying… one scream that refused to go silent… one body that refused to join the others.

"I guess I'll see if I can get at least a few more hours" said Shepard while standing "You should as well we need everyone to be fully rested"

"Tenno only need to sleep once every third day or so" said Marc with a small smile "So I can stave off my nightmares a little longer than most"

Shepard stuck out her tongue in his general direction before giving a small laugh and going back to her food. After a few minutes another question popped into Shepards mind

"Mind telling me what your problem with Kaidan is?"

Marc looked up from his snack and stared at Shepard for a given few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and laughing quietly to himself

"I don't have a problem with him as a person; I guess it has something to do with military rank"

"Kaidan is a lieutenant some would say that is doing pretty well for yourself" was Shepards reply.

"Indeed, but if I had to rank him with the Tenno ranks he would be quite far below me" Marc noted with gesture towards Shepard

"Really? What rank would you be if you were Alliance?" Shepard was intrigued

"I guess I would be a…" Marc gave a thoughtful expression for a few seconds "Rear Admiral or Admiral would be my best guess, speaking strictly from a military history standpoint. If we include the various traits needed for the actual rank I guess I would be a Commander like you"

Shepard suddenly fell quite silent, it wasn't exactly every day someone claimed to hold one of the highest ranks within your military…

"Just out of curiosity what would you place me as if I was with the Tenno?"

"Speaking strictly from a combat standpoint?" Shepard nodded "… I would place you somewhere in the Master Rank, perhaps promotion worthy"

Shepard blinked a few times and looked utterly confused

"Mind you that the Tenno doesn't measure you for your leadership abilities and some of the other stuff that the alliance does, with us it is purely personal skill" said Marc

"I see… where would Kaidan be?" Shepard asked with a little caution

Marc once more looked thoughtful "If I need to be fair I would place him somewhere in the lower Hunter rank" this was followed by a shrug "If I have to judge on a personal basis I would class him as a high Disciple"

"I thought you said you had no personal problem with Kaidan?" Shepard said with a small grin

Marc gave a low grunt "Perhaps a small one then"

Shepard gave a good laugh before recovering

"How does the Tenno ranking system work anyway? And what rank are you for that matter?"

"I passed my Grand Master promotion test a few years prior to my departure for the citadel. As for our ranking system, I can only reveal that we have four ranks from lowest to highest they are "Disciple, Hunter, Master and Grand Master" unofficially we have a fifth rank above Grand Master which belongs to our leader whom we call "The Lotus" or just "Lotus" when talking to her directly, but since she is the only holder of the rank it is not exactly used"

Shepard gave a whistle _'impressive… I think'_

"Grand Master… I take it that makes you important somehow?" Shepard asked a little hesitantly

"Not at all. My title as Grand Master merely means that I am a good warrior, our council is important but I could never make it on to that anyway" Marc answered with a flat tone

"How so?" questioned Shepard

"Because you need to have been with the Tenno for 1500 years before you can be part of the council and I will, given that the side effects doesn't kill me first, only live to see a thousand" replied Marc

Shepard snorted "Only a thousand…"

A comfortable silence befell the two sole occupants of the mess hall while they continued eating their respective midnight snacks. The silence continued until Shepard finished eating to which she stood up, put away her tray and headed towards her room, she stopped right at the corner and without turning around she spoke in a low voice that was barely audible.

"Why do you not let anyone close?" she turned her head slightly so only one of her eyes was visible "Even here tonight when I felt like we at least held a decent conversation, I could still feel you trying to distance yourself from me, why?"

"My reasons are my own" said Marc with a sad smile on his face "And shall remain as such for now, goodnight Shep… Sarah"

A small nod and smile was all he got in return as she headed into her room and left Marc alone with his thoughts. It wasn't many minutes later that Marc himself stood and headed down towards his ship. Come the next morning people would start wondering why the right armrest of one of the chairs was crushed.

Once inside her quarters Shepard got herself ready to go back to bed, it only took a few minutes before she found herself back in bed staring up at the ceiling slowly drifting off. The final thought that passed through Shepards mind before sleep claimed her was _'I want you to let me near…'_ Shepard bolted upright and sat staring off into the darkness of her quarters; she looked around for a few minutes before she shook her head wildly and turned and glared at the now very insulting piece of literature that was currently corrupting her nightstand, after a few seconds of trying to light the damn thing on fire with her glare she simply resorted to hissing at the damn thing

"This is _your_ fault…"

She then promptly laid back down with a loud *thump* and glared at the sealing with a sullen expression her face, eventually she turned on her side and tried to fall asleep while ignoring the small blush she felt on her cheeks.

On the nightstand a small book lay closed with a bookmark placed a few pages after the halfway mark, it was a simple design that adorned the book it was completely white with the title written across in black

"_Timeless Lovers"_

* * *

The following morning two people woke up and had two very similar yet very different mornings, one woke up with a sullen look on her face which was focused on a book on her nightstand, the other one woke up with a splitting headache since Tenno was supposed to get a full 12 hours of sleep after three days and since the hybrid had decided to sleep only after two days and then somehow managed to only stay asleep for 2 hours his punishment was a legendary headache that only very few extreme drinkers had ever suffered. At the same time a book found itself violently thrown into the nearby trashcan followed by a few wild thoughts of lighting the trashcan on fire but those thoughts were quickly disposed of, lighting offending books on fire was a personal pleasure for another time.

Back down aboard the Shadow Marc gave a low grunt as he contemplated smashing his head into the nearest pointy object in an attempt to relieve some of the pain but alas he had more sense than that. It was almost a fight in of itself to get to a certain corner of his engineering department, from there he opened a small secret compartment and pulled out an automated injection system which was already loaded with a very unhealthy looking black almost slime like liquid inside. Marc put the injector to his arm and pressed the release and registered the substance enter his blood stream with a small grunt, soon his nanites would be working overtime to expel the foreign liquid and in turn they would run a full body restore hopefully ridding him of this headache, hopefully.

About the same time that Marc was injecting his anti-headache solution Shepard was stepping into the rather cold shower as Shepard felt like she needed to cool down a little. After allowing herself a good ten minutes of simply letting the water run across her body and leaving her to her thoughts she decided that enough was enough and it was time to start the day, however little she wanted to. Entering the mess hall Shepard made a straight line for the coffee machine, despite the incredibly poor taste of the brew it was a necessary evil for her to get up in the morning, to this day she is still cursing her father for getting her addicted to the stuff…

Marc had in the meantime decided to venture out of his ship with a lingering headache and simply hoped he wouldn't have to deal with any loud noises for now. Thankfully the trip over to the elevator had proven to be quiet with the exception of Kaidan scowling and huffing at him when he passed, luckily for Kaidan Marc knew that if he had called Kaidan out on that it would have turned loud… Marc didn't want loud right now. So Kaidan was left ignored while Marc stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the crew deck.

Stepping out of the elevator Marc made a direct line for some food with no real thought as to what he ate, any form of nourishment would only speed along the nanites in their work. After acquiring some food which looked questionable at best he sat down at one of the empty tables and started to eat, only to look up with first Garrus and then a few minute later Shepard joined him.

"Morning Echo" Said Garrus in a chipper tone

A low grumble was all the reply he received and it didn't pass Shepard by that he looked like crap either.

"What's wrong Echo?" asked Shepard

"I decided to go to sleep a day early; however I only managed to sleep two hours. Due to my condition this has basically given me what could best be referred to as a legendary headache" said Marc in a low tone

Shepard just started laughing at Marc's misfortune and over the irony that he had been so cheeky a few hours ago about being able to go three days without sleep only to be sitting here now and complaining about missing out on it. A small sound announced that the speakers had turned on

"_Commander, we have a distress signal coming from Edolus, its alliance!"_

Joker sounded frantic but this had more to do with it being a distress signal than anything else. Shepard was immediately alert and knew with herself that they were going down there, if there was even the slightest chance that they could save those marines she would take it. One look around the room told her all she needed to know about what team she wanted, Tali she felt wasn't needed on this mission, Marc was definitely out of the question with that headache of his, he seemed barely able to function right now. That left Garrus, Kaidan and Wrex and as far as she knew they were all okay.

"Garrus go down and get ready and tell Kaidan and Wrex as well" said Shepard

Garrus nodded and started towards the elevator. In the meantime Marc was running his mind over the mission on Edolus that Thresher Maw could severely fuck them over if they didn't get some clue about it but his dilemma was finding a way to get that information to Shepard… In the end Marc got up and managed to catch the elevator with Garrus down, neither spoke on the way down.

After hearing Garrus tell the two others that they were going down Marc noticed that Kaidan gave him a slightly smug look which he simply ignored, his target was Wrex. Marc walked over to the Mako and waited for Shepard to arrive and climb in first, once she was inside Garrus followed and then Kaidan. Marc then stepped forward and stopped Wrex in his tracks before he could enter

"Beware the rite of passage" said Marc in a warning tone

Wrex eyes shot open and he glare fiercely at the being that somehow knew about his kinds coming of age ceremony, but after staring into his eyes for a few seconds he realized that this was a warning for the mission and then his own instincts told him to trust this being so he gave a nod and a grunt before climbing into the Mako. Marc then left hurriedly and sealed the hangar and entered the elevator.

* * *

Stepping out in the mess hall Marc looked around at the gathered crew, most of them were still eating or just finishing up their breakfast and heading towards their stations for the day. Even Tali had something to do by helping out the engineers with the engine but Marc found that he had surprisingly little to do besides meditate or mess around with some of his unfinished projects in his engineering department, neither of which he wished to attempt with his headache still dispersing.

Out of the corner of his eye Marc noticed Chakwas go back into the med-bay to prepare in the case someone was injured down on Edolus, odds were that someone was going to be hurt down there. After a while of aimless wandering and thinking Marc came to the rather unpleasant conclusion that he no longer had Arck or Borth to talk with when he needed to get his mind off things around him… that could turn troublesome so he decided that he would try and talk with Chakwas, if anything simply to inform her of his unique condition.

Inside the med-bay Marc found everything to look just like in the first game, simply bigger. Chakwas was sitting by her desk looking over some files with a frown on her face.

"…damnit Sarah…"

It was lower than a whisper but Marc's sensitive hearing picked it up and his eyebrow lifted in curiosity, if Chakwas was cursing out Shepard then either she had done something stupid to get her recently injured (So very likely…) or perhaps she suffered from an illness, Marc thought the first one more plausible. Chakwas did eventually notice that someone was standing at the door and spared a glance only to do a double take when she gazed over a subject of interest for her.

"Mr. Echo, I must say I expected you to show up at some point" said Chakwas

Marc gave a low smile and gestured to the door behind him "Can you lock it?" a few button presses on the console in front of her and Chakwas had locked the door to the med-bay. Marc took a seat next to Chakwas and eyed her critically, this was the last test in his opinion, he wanted to trust Chakwas but he didn't know the doctor after all.

"Do you doubt you can trust me?" asked Chakwas

Marc's eyes opened a little wider and smiled at the woman, she had barely met him and already she was reading his thoughts.

"I trust no one Doctor" said Marc

Chakwas smiled slightly and nodded in understanding he wasn't the first one to say this.

"Well Mr. Echo I assume you have your own reasons for seeking me out, but I too have a few questions for you regarding your condition, I hope you can understand my professional interest in meeting someone like you, the very idea that your DNA is fused with that of another species is very fascinating" said Chakwas with a little pep in her voice

"Shepard talked about me I see" said Marc with a raised eyebrow

Chakwas gave a sly grin and nodded her head indicating that perhaps Shepard hadn't spoken completely of her own volition… _'Note to self: Try not to make Doctor Chakwas angry'_

"Then perhaps we should start out with your questions Doctor, then perhaps we can tackle my own issues and I promise you there is plenty" said Marc with a very smile

'_I feel like I am going to regret this…'_

"Wonderful! Then perhaps we can begin with why you had your DNA fused to begin with?" said Chakwas with way more enthusiasm than anyone should have when talking about other people's bodies…

"You are aware of my age correct?" started Marc, Chakwas nodded "Good, I was only 20 years old when I ended up with the Tenno, shortly after I arrived an accident put me in a near death state and the doctors thought I wouldn't survive the night if something wasn't done" Chakwas was scribbling down every word Marc was saying "Eventually they decided the only way to save me was by injecting me with the same nanites they use" Chakwas lifted her head and looked with wide eyes at Marc

"Nanites, they perfected nanites that can survive in your system?" Chakwas managed to croak out

"One thing at a time Doctor" said Marc with a smile "After the injection they believed I would be okay, at least until the nanites recognized my Human DNA as a virus that needed to be purged, so the nanites started breaking down my body piece by piece accelerating my imminent demise" Chakwas stopped writing down his words and instead looked up and kept her gaze at Marc "In a last ditch effort to save me a Tenno freely gave a DNA sample that was to be merged with my own and this should in theory make the Nanites recognize me as a Tenno and thus start healing me instead of killing me. As evidence by me sitting here the procedure was a success and I have lived a healthy life since then"

'_and suffered severe backlash from the procedure that could potentially kill me…'_ Marc didn't say that as he felt that was one piece of information he needed to keep to himself. Chakwas on the other hand was gazing over Marc with a curious glance, she was trying to identify any major difference between him and any other human male, yet with the exception of the skin color she couldn't see any vast difference.

"Could you tell me anything about the procedure itself?" asked Chakwas

"I was already unconscious by the time they even thought about it and even if I knew anything about it Doctor I wouldn't tell you, Tenno medical practices are of no use to anyone else since we rely on our nanites for a great deal of those practices" replied Marc

Chakwas nodded her head though with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

"Then perhaps about the nanites themselves then?" asked Chakwas a little hopeful

"Some of it" replied Marc with a smile "Our nanites primarily stay in our bloodstream to allow them quicker access to the entire body. When a Tenno is injured or infected the nanites will all move to those areas, they exit the blood vessels by making a small hole in the vessel itself, the amount of needed nanites then all move through that same hole, when the last nanites is through that nanite seals the hole in the vessel. From there the nanites simply move between our muscles and other tissue until they reach their target, they are also programmed to destroy any nonessential tissue to move through the body after which they repair it. Once the injury of infection has been healed or purged they then use the same method to reenter the bloodstream"

Chakwas was in awe, that technology was a dream for the Alliance but could never find a way to power the small robots in an effective enough way to merit their construction. Yet here was a group who somehow managed to do it, extraordinary!

"Then how do they retain their power?" asked Chakwas

"When a nanite runs low on energy they will attach to a nerve and simply recharge with the small amount of electricity that pass through our nerves on a daily basis" was Marc's rather stoic reply

"Doesn't that impair your movement?" asked Chakwas with a raised eyebrow

Marc gave a smile "Indeed it does, which is why when I am outside my Warframe it requires around double the amount of energy to move around normally. Inside my Warframe the battery inside my armor supplies the nanites with energy from its own cells"

"Remarkable…" Chakwas looked thoughtful for a second "Your brain's must be exceptional if they are capable of producing double the amount of energy needed"

"Perhaps, we have not conducted that many studies into that field or I haven't at least, you see I was part of the engineering department, not the medical department no that was my wife's area of expertise"

The last words were out of his mouth before Marc managed to think them over and a shadow passed over his eyes, this was not missed by Chakwas who hadn't missed the _"was"_ either. Thinking that perhaps a drink was in order Chakwas pulled out two glasses and a bottle of Brandy, though not her favorite brand.

"A drink Mr. Echo?" she asked while lifting the bottle, a nod was all the confirmation she needed and she poured two glasses. Once both had their drink Chakwas took her first sip before she decided that perhaps this was as good as place to start with his problems, they could always return to his change later.

"Now then Mr. Echo I believe you came in here with something on your mind didn't you?" the smile on Chakwas lips was that of an understanding elder, it was a smile Marc had missed over the last year.

"Indeed I did Doct…"

"Please! Just call me Karin" interjected Chakwas

"Karen then. I came here with some intent yes, but perhaps simply to relieve my mind. So many things have happened in my 333 years of service to the Tenno and a great deal of it changed me" Marc's tone was somber and quite depressed

"Are you considered a veteran with these Tenno?" asked Chakwas after a sip of Brandy

"Veteran? Me?" Marc gave a loud snort "Had it not been for my unique circumstances and my brother I would still be considered a rookie, as it stands I hold the highest rank one can get within the Tenno but that is simply because I ended up throwing my life into my missions after my wife died…"

Chakwas gave out a slow sigh "Perhaps you should tell me about your wife? She seems like she is the basis of many of your problems"

"Perhaps" Marc looked thoughtful for a good minute before he let out a rather loud sigh and leaned further back in the chair while emptying his glass "She was so amazing Karin… she was the first person I saw after waking up with the Tenno and right then and there I think my heart had already decided that she was the one… Sivra was her name she had silver hair that seemed to dance even when there was no wind, and her eyes oh god Karin her eyes! I got lost looking into those golden irises of hers, I felt like she could stare into my very soul with those beautiful eyes…" Marc suddenly fell silent when the memory of those eyes closing for the last time flashed across his mind, his hands curled into fists in his lap as he kept remembering "Then she was taken from me… I held her dying body in my arms… I got to say goodbye Karin that is more than most Tenno ever get… yet I still felt cheated, like my reason for existing was gone I couldn't think of a reason to go on after that…" it was all he could manage to croak out, there was no tears, no they were long gone but the sadness in his eyes was still enough to make Chakwas get misty eyed.

"333 years… I cannot begin to understand how your mind survived it all" it was barely a whisper

"It didn't" said Marc with a dark tone "I snapped Karin… it was about a week after Sivra's funeral when I took my ship and left, I had tracked down a colony of our enemies and I believed that rather than grieve for Sivra like I should have, then perhaps the pain and anger would go away if I took it out on something…"

Chakwas stared intently at the man in front of her; she understood that what would come next was not pretty. She reached over and took one of Marc's curled up hands into her own and stared him intently in the eyes

"It's okay, I will not judge you for what you did in your grief" the words were filled with understanding and compassion, Marc could only nod.

"I slaughtered them all Karin… men, women, children… no one was spared I didn't care who I killed, to me they were all sinners, to me they were the reason she was dead. When I finally left it was only because I had destroyed everything and killed anyone who hadn't fled… since that day I only grew to hate myself and the Tenno more and more and in the end I left" the last bit was said in a half cheery tone "then I ended up here and eventually found myself going with Shepard"

Somewhere during his explanation Chakwas had removed her hand and now she was sitting in shock. She had expected it to be bad but not at such a scale! When she finally got her wits about her again the elder British woman could only manage one question

"How many?" her voice was shaky at best

"…432 men, 252 women and 105 children… 779 total out of a colony of 1000 people…"

When Marc raised his head to see Chakwas reaction there was such sadness in his eyes and yet Chakwas could think of only thing she could do. She stood up from her chair and gave the man that was 299 years her senior a hug that was filled with as much understanding as she could muster. To Marc who had not been hugged in quite a while and even then it was only by the Lotus sat stock still at the contact, yet somehow it was oddly comforting so he didn't move until Chakwas sat down on her own.

"Thank you" it was barely a whisper but Chakwas heard him "I think I will retire back to my ship for now Karin… thank you for listening to my ramblings…"

"Nonsense Echo. I sense you have many more troubles, anytime you wish to talk know that my door will be open" said Chakwas with a warm smile

Marc smiled and nodded before turning around to a now unlocked door, before stepping out he turned around and looked at Chakwas

"Oh and Karin, call me Marc in the future"

He then turned around again and walked out the med-bay leaving a smiling and amused Chakwas behind, there would be many interesting conversations with him in the future indeed. Marc did not waste anytime going back down to the armory and into the hangar and directly into his ship, perhaps he could catch some of those hours of sleep?

However the powers that be decided that sleep was simply not was Marc was meant to do, since barely an hour had passed since he fell asleep before the entire ship rumbled and Eva announced that she was sealing the ship due to the hangar bay opening. Marc made a few grumbling noises as he stood up and waited for the ship to unlock again, apparently Shepard was back from Edolus.

When the ship finally unsealed Marc stepped outside just in time to catch a furious looking Shepard storming out of the hangar towards the elevator. Garrus came out of the Mako a few seconds later and looked concerned but seemed to believe that he couldn't do anything since he started looking over the Mako. Kaidan then crawled out and hurried after Shepard, Marc shook his head at that _'He reminds me of a puppy at times…'_ and last but not least Wrex came grumbling out of the Mako and it didn't take long for the Krogan Battlemaster to lock eyes with Marc. Not a second after their eyes met was Wrex moving towards him at faster pace than normal and with an angry scowl on his face, when he reached Marc he spared no time putting his face inches from Marcs.

"You and I need to talk, now"

**A/N: And that is done for chapter 6. I realize it is a bit late but Exams are almost over and then I have to move across the country in august so lots of planning going on there as well. But in regards to this Chapter I wanted to clarify some things, mostly just that I have no medical past nor any actual understand in nanites or most machinery. As for Marc's "presence" or killing intent or whatever you wish to call it, I am aware that the way I described it is perhaps not how it works in other places but I thought it fit and I do believe I actually stole it from another fanfic, if I did and you recognize it do tell me so I can give credit where credit is due for a good idea. As for the part where Marc has his little "episode" it is not the same as his presence, but it's something of the same. If you have ever been in a room alone but you just knew that someone else was there, then that is how most of the crew felt when Marc was yelling and fighting against the restraints.**

**Other than that I hoped you enjoyed the Chapter and next week we are back to Liara's recruitment mission, of course we need to get done with Wrex "talking" with Marc first though… should be interesting.**

**Have a fun one everyone.**

**-Bundlejumper-**


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